tihv<xvy  of  t:he  theological  ^tmxnavy 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

REVEREND  CHARLES  ROSENBURY  ERDMAN 
D.D.,  LL.D. 

BV  4501  .S33'"l908  ^ 

Schofield,  A.  T.  1846-1929. 
Christian  sanity 


eL^^^.£<^ 


>--4-r<S»-«''V\ 


CHRISTIAN    SANITY 


CHRISTIAN 
SANITY 


A.   T.   SCHOFIELD,    A.D 

Author  ol  "The  Unconscious  Mind,"  "'The  Knowledge  of  God, 
"With    Christ    in    Palestine,"   &c.,    &c. 


WITH    A    PREFACE    BY 

DR.     HANDLEY    AOULE 

(Bishop  0/ Durham) 


Xa)(f)pov7jcraT€  > 


New  York 

A.   C   ARMSTRONG  &  SON 

3  AND  5  West   Eighteenth  Street 

1908 


R.  W.  SIMFSON  AND  CO  ,  LTD.. 

PRINTERS, 

RICHMOND  AND  LONDON. 


''Me  sbouit)  live  60berl^  an&  riabteouel^ 
ant)  QOM^  in  tbis  present  worlD/' 

'*  %ox^f  %ot^,  Mt)  we  not  propbes^  b^  ^bl? 
IRame,  anC)  bp  ^bp  IRame  cast  out  devils, 
anO  bp  tlb^  IRame  t)o  man^  migbt^  worfts?*' 


**H)epact  tcom  me,  se  tbat  \oot\i  iniquity!'' 


PREFACE 

(By  the    Lord   Bishop   of   Durham.) 

My  friend,  Dr.  Schofield,  has  been  good  enough  to 
shew  me  in  proof  some  important  specimens  of  his 
work,  Christian  Sanity.  The  topic  to  which  he 
addresses  himself  is  of  permanent  and  now  also  of 
peculiar  and  pressing  gravity. 

In  every  direction  we  are  met  with  theories  of 
spiritual  life,  and  with  actual  or  alleged  phenomena 
of  spiritual  or  psychical  experience  which  force  upon 
the  Christian  observer  the  anxious  question,  What 
are  these  teachings,  what  are  these  experiences  ? 
What  must  I  think  of  their  relation  alike  to  the 
promises  and  the  warnings  of  Scripture  ?  What  is 
their  place  in  the  study  of  religion  ?  What  is  their 
bearing  on  the  salvation  and  sanctification  of  man  ? 

Dr.  Schofield  has  long  given  his  attention,  the 
attention  of  a  highly  skilled  and  widely  experienced 
physician,  who  is  also  the  convinced  and  devout 
believer  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Word, 


X  PREFACE 

to   topics  which    lie  close  to  those   to   which    he 
addresses  himself  in  Christian  Sanity. 

The  specimens  of  his  work  on  this  subject 
which  I  have  been  permitted  to  see  in  advance, 
along  with  my  antecedent  confidence  in  the  writer's 
high  competency  as  student  and  teacher,  lead  me  to 
welcome  the  appearance  of  the  work  as  one  which  is- 
timely  in  a  high  degree.  May  it  powerfully  aid  the 
cause  of  what  St.  Paul  so  often  calls  in  his  latest 
Epistles,  "  the  healthful  doctrine." 

Handley  Dunelm. 

December  2nd,  1907. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  Page-. 

I.    General  Scope  of  The  Subject      -  -      i 

II.    The  Bible  on  Christian  Sanity  -           12 

III.  What  Is  Sanity  in  Christianity?  -  -    32 

IV.  Sanity  in  Childhood  and  Youth  -           50 

V.    Sanity     in     Revivals,     Conventions  and 

Missions      -              -              -  -    69 

VI.    Sanity     in     Revivals,    Conventions  and 

MissiO'i^S— continued           -  -            86 

VII.    Sanity  in  the  Higher  Life           -  -    125 

VIII.    The  Wiles  of  the  Devil         -              •  142 

IX.    From  a  Medical  Standpoint         -  -    i54- 


TO   THE    READER 

I  AM  asked  to  write  this  book  for  two  reasons. 
First,  there  seems  to  be  at  the  present  time 
a  special  need  for  some  serious  attempt  to  be 
made  to  indicate  the  line  that  divides  sound 
from  unsound  Christian  practice,  more  especially  in 
large  gatherings  and  in  the  more  advanced  stages 
of  the  Christian  life.  Secondly,  I  presume  the 
subject  is  placed  in  my  hands  because,  as  a  Christian 
physician,  I  have  been  for  so  many  years  exclusively 
engaged  in  seeing  and  trying  to  help  nerve  sufferers 
of  all  sorts,  including  large  numbers  of  Christian 
people  who  have  lost  their  health  through  religious 
excesses  of  various  kinds,  or  through  some  morbid 
forms  of  religious  exercises. 

Personally  I  think  that  a  clergyman  would  be, 
for  many  reasons,  much  better  fitted  than  myself 
for  this  difficult  and  delicate,  though  perhaps  neces- 
sary task  ;  but  as  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  I  will 
endeavour  to  throw  what   light  I  am  able  to  do  on 


xiv  TO   THE   READER 

the  subject.  I,  of  course,  write  as  one  in  full 
sympathy  with  all  forms  of  religious  life,  and  as 
holding  all  the  ordinary  articles  of  the  Christian 
faith  ;  and  especially  in  regarding  the  inspired  Word 
of  God  as  a  final  court  of  appeal  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  faith  and  doctrine.  I  shall  have  to 
touch  upon  other  topics  of  great  interest,  besides 
those  directly  concerning  sanity  ;  such  as  Christian 
life  in  childhood  and  youth. 

One  thing  however  is  impressed  upon  me  already, 
as  I  write  these  opening  lines,  that  although  to  some 
extent  I  may  be  qualified  to  be  a  mentor,  as  being 
for  so  long  a  time  acquainted  with  Christian  aberra- 
tions, it  is  well  to  remember  that  in  touching 
Christians  one  is  touching  those  who  have  touched 
the  Divine ;  and  one  must  move  cautiously  and 
reverently  amongst  soul-mysteries  where  God  is 
never  very  far  off;  and  be  very  careful  before  one 
lays  down  rules  of  right  conduct  on  the  lines 
of  ordinary  mental  and  medical  science,  for  the 
limitation  of  the  servants  of  a  Divine  Master. 

Still,  after  all  there  is  such  a  thing  as  Christian 
Sanity,  and  there  is  a  life  in  accordance  with  it 
that  is  in  favour  with  God  and  with  wise  and 
thoughtful  men ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
an  un-Christian  insanity,  which,  however  high  flown 


TO  THE   READER  xv 

its  pretensions  or  mystic  its  language,  brings  neither 
glory  to  God  nor  help  to  men. 

It  is  therefore  with  a  due  sense  of  the  importance 
and  delicacy  of  the  work  that  I  will  try  and  indicate 
as  far  as  possible  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
these  two. 

I  cannot  of  course  please  all,  nor  would  it  be 
desirable  if  I  could.  I  can  only  point  out  what  I 
think  is  comprehend(id  and  what  is  excluded  by  the 
title  of  this  book,  from  the  long  and  often  painful 
experience  I  have  acquired  not  only  of  the  psychology 
but  of  the  pathology  of  Christianity.  I  am  indeed 
constrained  to  write  it  in  the  hope  of  pointing  out 
that  line  of  conduct  which  Scripture  specially 
enjoins  for  those  who  live  in  these  closing  days. 

ALFRED  T.  SCHOFIELD,  M.D., 

19,  Harley  Street, 

London,  W. 
January^  igo8. 


CHAPTER  L 

General  Scope  of  the  Subject 

THERE  is  no  country  where  deviation  from 
the  normal  is  so  severely  looked  upon  as  in 
these  Isles.  On  the  Continent  and  in  a 
marked  degree  as  we  travel  further  and 
further  from  these  shores,  passionate  words  and 
actions,  and  manifestations  of  excitement  pass  with- 
out comment,  which  would  be  regarded  here  as 
almost  maniacal  and  certainly  not  compatible  with 
full  sanity.  This  is  especially  so  in  the  whole 
of  the  East,  for  there  conditions  pass  unnoticed, 
that  at  home  would  demand  an  asylum  or  a  strait- 
jacket. 

Nor  do  we  find,  taking  England  again  as  a  starting 
point,  and  travelling  West  instead  of  East,  that  the 
idea  of  what  constitutes  sanity  is  more  restricted 
On  the  contrar}',  there  again,  and  especially  in 
Christian  circles,  all  sorts  of  vagaries  and  extrava- 
gances are  tolerantly  regarded,  and  by  no  means 
looked  upon  as  signs  of  mania. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  at  all  that  in  this  country 
the  limits   of  what  is  regarded  as  sane  and  sober 

'  B 


2  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

conduct  are  narrower  than  elsewhere,  and  that  if  a 
man  can  pass  muster  here,  he  will  not  be  regarded 
anywhere  else  with  suspicion. 

This  may  account  for  the  demand  for  a  book  on 
this  subject,  and  there  is  perhaps  the  greater  open- 
ing for  this  monograph,  because  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  ascertain,  no  similar  work  has  yet 
appeared  ;  and  while  I  could  wish  the  subject  had 
been  treated  by  abler  hands,  I  do  not  think  it  could 
have  been  approached  with  a  deeper  sense  of  its 
importance,  and  its  value  at  the  present  day. 

To  understand  what  is  meant  bj^  sanity  and  by 
Christian  sanity,  some  sort  of  definition  is  indispens- 
able, for  we  must  understand  what  we  mean  by  the 
words  we  use.  It  is,  however,  easier  to  ask  for 
definitions  than  to  get  them,  and  especially  in  such 
a  case  as  this.  As  far  as  I  know,  no  definition  of 
either  sanity  or  insanity  thai  will  cover  all  cases  has 
ever  yet  been  given,  and  even  in  studying  individual 
cases  there  are  always  those  so  exceedingly  doubtful, 
that  since  the  dividing  line  has  never  yet  been 
drawn,  it  is  impossible  to  pronounce  them  either  sane 
or  insane.  As  Burke  has  so  wisely  said,  while  *  no 
man  has  ever  been  able  to  say  exactly  when  twilight 
begins  or  ends,  all  men  can  distinguish  between  day 
and  night.'  The  law  of  the  land  only  recognizes  sane 
and  insane,  and  so  far  has  steadily  refused  to  accept 
a  borderland  class ;  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
impossibility  of  making  a  valid  distinction  as  the 
dividing   line    is    approached.     It    would   be  of  th§ 


GENERAL  SCOPE   OF  THE   SUBJECT         3 

greatest  possible  service  in  hundreds  of  mild  and 
doubtful  cases  could  the  sufferers  receive  some  care 
without  being  placed  in  asylums.  As  it  is,  there  are 
numbers  there  for  whom  they  are  not  intended  ;  while 
on  the  other  hand  very  many  are  at  large  to  their 
own  danger  who  ought  to  receive  some  care ;  but  no 
institution  has  yet  been  opened  for  their  relief. 

If  there  then  be  such  difficulty  of  judging  of  some 
people's  mental  condition  in  ordinary  affairs,  how 
far  more  complicated  does  the  problem  become  if  we 
look  at  it  with  regard  to  Christian  life,  and  from  the 
standpoint  moreover  of  a  Christian  rather  than  that 
of  a  medical  man. 

I  hope  in  the  third  chapter  to  describe  as  well  as 
I  can  what  I  mean  by  Christian  sanity.  But  in 
doing  so  we  must  remember  that  it  is  not  for  us  to 
deny  the  action  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  Almighty 
power  on  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men,  nor  to  lay 
down  any  laws  for  His  action. 

We  thus  see  at  once  how  dangerous  it  is  to  pro- 
nounce any  spiritual  effects  in  Christian  lives  to  be 
sane  or  insane,  according  to  our  preconceived  ideas, 
based  solely  on  human  phenomena. 

At  the  same  time,  while  confessing  the  great  diffi- 
culty of  the  task  and  fully  aware  of  the  caution 
required,  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  crying  need 
there  is  at  the  present  day  at  least  to  attempt  it. 

Everywhere^the  name  of  Christ  is  blasphemed 
through  the  wild  excesses  and  fanatical  outbursts  of 
Christian,  or  so-called  Christian,  men  and  women. 


4  CHRISTIAN    SANITV 

Such  has  been  the  case  in  all  ages  of  the  Church, 
and  the  wildest  insanities  have  been  permitted  under 
the  name  of  Christ  and  Christianity. 

But  in  the  present  day  the  matter  is  much  worse. 
Not  because  the  excesses  are  greater,  but  because 
the  standard  of  rational  life  is  higher,  and  though 
not  yet  defined,  the  limits  of  sanity  are  certainly 
better  understood,  and  any  outrages  on  the  name  of 
Christ  are  more  flagrant  and  more  disastrous  to 
Christianity. 

I  write  this  book  because  of  the  Holy  Name  by 
which  we  are  called,  and  one  cannot  but  shudder 
to  see  how  it  is  dragged  through  the  mire  of  this 
world's  ridicule  owing  to  extravagances  whose  claim 
to  be  Christian,  should  never  have  been  allowed. 

All  who  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians 
must  account  it  one  of  the  dearest  wishes  of  their 
hearts  to  see  that  Name  reverenced  and  its  dignity 
upheld  by  the  conduct  and  practice  of  those  who 
profess  it. 

I  know  well  that  the  love  of  God  when  it  reaches 
and  touches  the  heart  of  banished  man  and  brings 
him  back  to  his  Father's  arms,  may  occasion  such 
transports  of  joy  as  marked  the  return  of  the  prodigal 
son  in  the  parable.  But  though  these  may  be 
misunderstood  by  those  who  do  not  share  them 
(as  by  the  elder  son  in  the  parable),  they  are  divided 
by  a  wide  gulf  from  the  excesses  of  which  I  speak, 
and  are  as  different  in  their  character  as  in  their 
source. 


GENERAL  SCOPE   OF  THE  SUBJECT         5 

It  is  quite  possible  that  many  who  read  these 
lines  are  wholly  unaware  of  the  extravagancies  to 
which  I  refer. 

Their  lives  have  been  guarded  and  secluded,  and 
they  may  not  even  have  heard  of  much  that  has 
caused  this  book  to  be  written.  But  they  have  seen 
and  do  know  how  unbalanced  and  easily  shaken  the 
faith  of  multitudes  is ;  and  how  little  is  known  in 
many  places  of  that  Christian  stedfastness  and 
steady  sanity  that  characterized  earlier  and  quieter 
days.  The  wildest  doctrines,  the  newest  up-to-date 
theology,  the  most  mystic  nonsense  have  only  got  to 
be  spread  abroad  and  their  dogmas  ventilated  and 
discussed  and  gratuitously  published  far  and  wide 
by  the  cheaper  papers,  and  one  sees  scores  and 
hundreds  of  men  and  women,  whom  hitherto  we 
deemed  to  be  steady  and  sober-minded  Christian 
people,  carried  off  their  feet  by  the  flood,  and  joining 
the  throng  of  worshippers  at  any  new  shrine  ;  at 
which,  though  many  old  names  are  retained,  a  new 
worship  is  offered  and  a  new  God  adored.  It  is 
the  devastating  effect  of  these  novel  cults  that 
demonstrates  how  little  ballast  there  is  of  sober 
sanity  in  the  average  twentieth  century  Christian 
man. 

But  one  need  not,  alas,  go  to  strange  creeds  to 
see  practices  that  can  hardly  be  described  as 
sane.  Right  in  evangelical  and  ultra-protestant 
circles  deeds  are  done  and  scenes  enacted  that  by 
half  the  spectators  are  described  as  manifestations 


6  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  and  by  the  other  half  as 
demonstrations  of  Satanic  power. 

Surely  in  the  present  day  a  Christian  of  sane  and 
sober  mind  should  be  able  to  distinguish  between 
the  operations  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  out- 
breaks of  diabolic  energy ;  and  Christians  should 
not  be  led  away  by  the  latter,  as  they  undoubtedly 
are.  I  shall  endeavour  in  this  monograph  to  trace 
out  some  of  the  causes  to  which  this  unsteadiness 
and  want  of  discernment  are  probably  due. 

There  is  yet  another  additional  reason  for  sobriety 
and  sanity,  and  that  is  because  the  end  approaches. 
Whatever  may  be  our  views  as  to  the  future,  all 
Christian  men  and  women  know  that  we  are  nearing 
the  close  of  the  age  and  that  there  is  much  predicted 
in  the  Bible  that  is  not  yet  fulfilled,  but  will  shortly 
come  to  pass. 

When,  in  the  language  of  St.  Peter,  the  adversary, 
the  devil,  goes  about  "as  a  roaring  lion,"  our 
only  safety  is  to  follow  the  Apostle's  advice  and  to 
*'  be  sober,"  as  well  as  "  vigilant."  It  is  well  for  us 
to  lay  to  heart  the  very  last  words  of  this  Apostle 
that  have  been  given  to  the  Christian  church,  for 
they  are  full  of  solemn  meaning  to  us  at  the  present 
day. 

"Ye  therefore  beloved,  seeing  ye  know  these 
things  before,  beware  lest  ye  also,  being  led  away 
with  the  error  of  the  wicked,  fall  from  your  own 
stedfastness." 

If  this  verse  had  been  more  heeded  there  would 


GENERAL  SCOPE   OF  THE   SUBJECT         7 

be  no  occasion  for  this  book  ;  and  the  Church  of 
God  would  have  been  spared  much  that  has 
disgraced  it. 

In  considering  the  subject  I  may  point  out  that 
the  personal  and  the  racial  factor  must  of  necessity 
be  taken  into  account.  The  Celt  is  not  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  never  will  be,  and  aline  of  conduct 
that  may  be  congruous  and  sane  in  the  one,  becomes 
incongrous,  if  not  insane,  in  the  other — another 
instance  of  the  impossibility  of  absolutely  drawing 
a  rigid  line  of  demarcation.  Because  certain 
things  happened  at  the  Welsh  revival  among  Celts 
that  is  no  possible  reason  why  they  should  happen 
in  England  amongst  Anglo-Saxons. 

It  was  through  the  want  of  seeing  this  that  the 
attempt  was  made,  and  incongruous  and  unseemly 
scenes  occurred  recently  at  one  of  our  largest 
Conventions. 

St.  Paul,  after  giving  the  most  exhaustive  instruc 
lions  for  the  conduct  and  procedure  of  the  Church 
of  God  in  all  its  assemblies,  sums  up  his  whole 
Apostolic  charge  in  one  pregnant  sentence,  as  he 
concludes  with  the  comprehensive  and  important 
exhortation,  "  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and 
in  order." 

In  this  first  chapter,  which  only  indicates  the 
subject  that  is  to  occupy  us,  I  cannot  lay  down  in 
detail  how  this  is  best  to  be  done.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  exhortation  must  not  be  interpreted 
in  too  rigid  or  frigid  a  sense,  but  with  the  warmth 


8  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

and  love  and  liberty  that  must  ever  characterise  true 
Christian  procedure.  Indeed,  as  I  have  indicated, 
it  is  by  no  means  impossible  or  uncommon  to  set 
sanity  before  Christianity. 

It  is  quite  easy  to  be  sane  if  we  are  dead ;  and  no 
one  can  say  that  where  there  is  no  life  there  is  any 
insanity.  Indeed,  insanity  itself  is  a  proof  of  life, 
although  grievously  disordered. 

One  has  therefore  but  scant  patience  with  those 
censors,  who  because  themselves  dead  in  spirit  to 
the  higher  Christian  realities,  condemn  as  insane  all 
active  proofs  of  Christian  life.  It  is  cheap  and  easy 
so  to  do,  but  grossly  misleading. 

It  is  indeed  impossible,  as  the  Apostle  argues  in 
the  first  of  Corinthians  (chap,  ii),  for  a  man  to  know 
anything  but  "  the  things  of  a  man,"  with  which  the 
"  things  of  God "  are  placed  in  sharp  contrast. 
These  latter,  says  the  Apostle,  are  known  by  none 
but  the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  "  natural  man,"  that 
is,  the  man  not  living  the  spiritual  life,  not  only 
cannot  know  these  things  of  God,  but  they  appear 
to  him  foolish  or  insane,  as  so  many  things  do  to 
us  which  are  beyond  our  comprehension. 

A  stolid  Anglo-Saxon  tourist  surveying  with 
British  phlegm  the  antics  and  gesticulations  in  an 
excited  French  quarrel  might  well  deem  the  men 
mad  because  he  understands  neither  their  language 
nor  their  spirit. 

I  do  not  therefore  attempt  here  to  answer  any 
common  outcries    against    Christians   generally   as 


GENERAL  SCOPE   OF  THE  SUBJECT  g 

insane,  for  these  have  been  common  in  all  ages  from 
New  Testament  times.  Indeed  the  first  Christian 
gathering  ever  recorded  was  looked  upon  by  many 
as  an  assembly  of  drunkards,  if  not  of  the  insane. 
("These  men  are  full  of  new  wine."     Acts  ii.  13). 

But  although  much  of  the  outcry  against  the 
so-called  "  insane  "  conduct  of  Christians  may  be 
safely  disregarded,  especially  when  it  proceeds  from 
those  who  have  no  real  knowledge  of,  or  sympathy 
with  Christianity,  there  still  remains,  as  I  have 
already  said,  quite  enough  that  is  a  reproach  to 
religion  in  the  eyes  of  most  earnest  Christian  people. 

We  must  remember,  in  enumerating  some  of  the 
causes  of  this,  that  an  ill-balanced  or  diseased  mind 
does  not  necessarily  become  balanced  and  sound 
when  Christianity  is  embraced,  and  in  writing  of 
vagaries  and  excesses  one  must  always  consider  by 
whom  they  are  committed,  as  the  mental  state  so 
often  explains  all :  and  if  on  the  one  hand  it  clearly 
shows  that  the  acts  complained  of  are  not  of 
Divine  or  Spiritual  origin,  it  equally  shows  they  are 
not  of  the  devil,  as  one  is  often  too  ready  to  assume, 
but  are  the  natural  products  of  a  weak  brain. 

We  may  indeed,  in  searching  out  causes  for  the 
various  scenes  and  acts  that  bring  disgrace  on 
Christianity,  find  three  that  are  prominent.  One 
is  that  which  I  have  just  mentioned — the  mental 
condition  of  the  individual  in  question.  Another  is 
the  effect  of  false  teaching  and  example.  The  third 
lies  at  the  door  of  religious  parents  and  teachers  in 


t&  CHRISTIAN   SANITV 

not  sufficiently  warning  and  strengthening  their 
children  or  pupils  as  they  grow  up  against  all 
excesses  and  extravagances  associated  with 
Christianity. 

*  ***** 

It  only  remains  for  me  now  briefly  to  indicate 
the  plan  of  this  book.  I  propose  in  the  first  place 
to  examine  what  is  said  respecting  sanity  in 
Christian  practice  in  the  New  Testament,  and  then 
having  laid  our  foundations  on  the  solid  rock  of 
Scripture,  proceed  to  see  what  practically  constitutes 
sanity  in  Christianity  at  the  present  day,  and 
review  the  development  of  Christian  life  in  different 
stages  and  at  different  ages. 

The  next  thing  will  be  to  examine  the  teaching 
and  practices  in  conversions,  revivals,  missions, 
and  Christian  conventions,  and  see  how  far  much 
that  has  transpired  lately  is  to  be  recognised  as  the 
outcome  of  a  sound  mind,  or  as  the  action  of  the 
Spirit  of  God. 

We  may  then  consider  Christian  sanity  in  relation 
to  the  higher  spiritual  experiences,  and  carefully 
examine  the  special  dangers  that  beset  the  path 
f  more  advanced  Christians.  Lastly  it  may  be 
well  to  examine  the  pathology  of  Christianity,  that 
is,  those  forms  of  religious  aberration  that  seem  to 
arise  from  certain  misuses  of  Christian  doctrines 
and  practices. 

In  other  words,  in  this  last  chapter  we  may  look 
at   our    subject  of    Christian   sanity  a  little   from 


GENERAL  SCOPE  OF  THE  SUBJECT        ii 

the  medical  point  of  view  rather  than  simply  from 
the  Christian  standpoint. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  when  we  have  traversed 
this  ground  together  we  may  have  learned  some- 
thing more  of  the  gravity  and  importance  of  the 
whole  matter,  and  be  better  qualified  to  discern 
what  is  not  of  God  or  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  while 
at  the  same  time  we  may  be  able  to  recognise  and 
endorse  every  action  of  Divine  power. 


CHAPTER    11. 
The  Bible  on  Christian  Sanity. 

ON  opening  our  New  Testaments  two  points 
at  once  strike  us  respecting  our  subject* 
The  one  is  how  often  Christians  (and  their 
Master)    were   accounted   mad ;    and   theif 
other,  how  constantly  they  are  exhorted  to  be  sane.^j 

We  may  get  some  vahiable  general   light   upon^ 
our   subject    by   first   of   all   briefly   reviewing    the 
passages  in  question. 

I  will  begin  with  insanitj^,  first  as  to  the  Master 
and  then  with  regard  to  His  servants.  Four  times 
our  Lord  was  said  to  "  have  a  devil,"  and  once  to 
be  "mad"  or  maniacal,  and  once  to  be  "basida 
himself"  or  bewitched  {e^i(^r<yfiL),  a  milder  word.  [ 
will  take  the  passages  in  their  order. 

Mark  iii.  21,  Luke  xi.  15.     "  And  when  his  friends 

heard  it,  they  went  out  to  lay  hold  on  him:  for 

they  said  '  He  is  beside  himself.'    And  the  scribes 

which  came  down  from  Jerusalem  (to  Capernaum) 

said   '  He  hath   Beelzebub,'  "      The   setting  of  this 

scene  is  remarkable.      Just  before,  St.  Matthew  (xii. 

18-21)  gives  us  God's  estimation  of  the  man  Christ 

12 


THE   BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN  SANITY        13 

Jesus  at  that  very  time  ;  and  it  forms  an  interesting 
contrast  to  that  of  His  "  friends." 

God  says,  "  Behold  my  servant  whom  I  have 
chosen ;  My  beloved  in  whom  my  soul  is  well 
pleased ;  I  will  put  my  Spirit  upon  him.  And  he 
shall  declare  judgment  to  the  Gentiles.  He  shall 
not  Btrive  nor  cry  aloud  ;  neither  shall  any  one  hear 
his  voice  in  the  streets.  A  bruised  reed  shall  he 
not  break,  and  smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench, 
till  he  send  forth  judgment  unto  victory.  And  in 
his  name  shall  the  Gentiles  trust." 

His  friends  at  this  very  time  go  out  to  lay  hold  of 
him  as  insane. 

His  enemies  say  He  has  a  devil.  Here  is  a  three- 
fold simultaneous  estimation  of  Christ,  and  it  is  not 
without  warning  at  the  present  day,  and  may  well 
cause  Christian  "  friends,"  as  well  as  the  writer  of 
this  book,  to  proceed  with  caution,  lest  their  judg- 
ment should  be  found  equally  grievously  astray  ! 

The  immediate  ground  for  supposing  insanity  here 
appears  to  be  that  our  Lord  had  no  time  for  any 
set  meals.  In  Matt.  xi.  18  He  had  already  pointed 
out  to  His  disciples  that  this  abstinence  from  food 
caused  John  the  Baptist  to  be  condemned  as  having 
a  devil.  This  attitude  of  His  friends  gives  us 
an  instance  of  the  very  slight  grounds  upon 
which  we  are  sometimes  led  to  doubt  one  another's 
sanity. 

With  regard  to  His  enemies,  they  then  and  there 
committed  that  special  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost 


14  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

concerning  which  our  Lord  speaks  in  such  solemn 
terms. 

Here  then  at  the  very  outset  we  get  a  fearful 
warning  against  hastily  assuming  that  unusual  and 
unconventional  phenomena  in  Christian  work  are 
necessarily  of  Satanic  agency.  It  calls,  upon  us, 
indeed,  perhaps  more  than  any  other  passage  in 
Scripture,  to  exercise  the  greatest  care  in  judging 
any  manifestations  that  claim  to  be  those  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  This  whole  passage  has  much  to 
say  to  us  to-day. 

The  next  instance  is  John  vii.  20.  "The  multitude 
answered,  '  Thou  hast  a  devil,'  who  seeketh  to  kill 
thee  ? "  The  accusation  here  is  for  quite  another 
reason,  and  appears  to  be  rather  a  malicious  remark 
than  the  utterance  of  the  deliberate  judgment  of  His 
"  friends."  Our  Lord  had  revealed  the  thoughts  ot 
His  hostile  audience  suddenly  and  in  a  most 
disquieting  manner  by  quietly  saying,  "  Why  seek 
ye  to  kill  me  ?  "  They,  conscious,  or  perhaps  as 
yet  but  semi-conscious,  of  the  impulse  that  lay  deep 
in  their  hearts,  tried  to  attribute  the  idea  to  a  delusion 
of  the  devil  and  to  regard  Christ  as  one  possessed. 

The  next  instance  is  in  John  viii.  48.  "  The 
Jews  answered  and  said  unto  him,  '  Say  we 
not  well  that  thou  art  a  Samaritan  and  hast  a 
devil?'"  and  (v.  52)  "Now  we  know  that  thou  hast 
a  devil."  This  was  on  the  occasion  when  our  Lord 
was  teaching  divine  truths  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
culminating  in  the  claim  to  be  in  His  own  Person 


THE   BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN   SANITY       15 

the  "  Jehovah  "  of  His  people.  And  for  this  they 
would  have  stoned  Him  ;  no  comforting  thought  of 
the  "Divine  imminence"  in  the  hearts  of  all  men 
being  present  to  lessen  the  startling  effect  of  the 
tremendous  truth. 

The  last  instance  is  in  John  x.  20,  "  And  many  of 
them  said,  He  hath  a  devil  and  is  mad ;  why  hear  ye 
him  ?  "  The  occasion  here  was  the  truth  concerning 
the  resurrection  that  our  Lord  was  teaching  them  in 
these  words,  "  I  lay  down  my  life  that  I  may  take  it 
again.  No  one  taketh  it  away  from  me  I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take 
it  again." 

I  have  shown  how  the  first  occasion  on  which  our 
Lord  was  accounted  mad  might  be  repeated  now  in 
a  very  similar  way  with  regard  to  Christians  con- 
sidering the  differences  of  time  and  place ;  and  with 
regard  to  the  last  three,  if  men  become  uneasy  in 
conscience  as  here  (John  vii.  20),  it  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  them  to  abuse  the  preacher ;  while  with 
regard  to  the  other  two,  staunch  upholders  of  the 
Deity  of  our  Lord  (with  which  the  virgin  birth  is 
generally  connected),  and  of  His  literal  bodily 
resurrection  are  still  not  infrequently  accounted — 
at  any  rate  foolish  and  credulous. 

The  occasion  on  which  our  Lord  was  said  to  be 
"beside  himself"  or  bewitched  is  in  Mark  iii.  21, 
and  has  already  been  referred  to  in  the  first  of  the 
four  passages.  Besides  these  Christ  suffered  from 
being    called    many    opprobrious    names,   but    we 


i6  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

restrict  ourselves   here  to  the  limits  of  our  direct 
subject. 

*  *  #  *  »  * 

Turning  now  from  Christ  to  Christians,  we  must 
remember  these  words  : 

*'  A  servant  is  not  above  his  master  nor  a  disciple 
above  his  Lord.  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that 
he  be  as  his  master,  and  the  servant  as  his  Lord. 
If  they  have  called  the  master  of  the  house  Beelze- 
bub, how  much  more  shall  they  call  them  of  his 
household  ?  " 

The  first  case  is  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  they 
could  not  begin  earlier  than  with  the  forerunner  of 
Christ.  He,  because  he  came  neither  eating  nor 
drinking,  was  said  to  "  have  a  devil."  Ascetics  in 
all  ages  have  often  had  similar  epithets  cast  at  them. 

The  next  case  is  most  interesting,  and  is  that  of  a 
servant  girl  called  Rhoda,  who,  because  she  came 
and  told  the  members  of  a  prayer-meeting  (not 
sceptics  or  careless  people)  that  their  prayers  were 
answered,  was  declared  to  be  mad.  The  passage  is 
in  Acts  xii.  12,  and  lest  I  should  be  thought  to  have 
overstated  the  case  I  quote  the  verses.  "  Peter  came 
to  the  house  of  Mary,  the  mother  of  John,  whose 
surname  was  Mark  (the  evangelist),  where  many 
were  gathered  together  and  were  praying."  (For 
the  subject  of  their  prayers  see  v.  5.  "  But  prayer 
was  made  earnestly  of  the  church  unto  God  for 
Peter.") 

The  prayer  was  answered  by  the   release  of  St. 


THE   BIBLE  ON   CHRISTIAN  SANITY       17 

Peter,  who  actually  came  and  knocked  at  the  gate 
while  the  meeting  was  being  held.  The  maid  went 
to  the  door  and  recognised  St.  Peter's  voice  with- 
out, as  he  was  well  known  at  this  house.  Leaving 
the  gate  still  locked  she  rushed  back  into  the  prayer- 
meeting  and  told  them  their  request  was  granted 
and  St.  Peter  was  released.  She  was  declared  mad, 
and  when  she  kept  to  her  statement  and  maintained 
it  to  be  true,  sooner  than  believe  their  prayers  were 
effectual  they  concluded  he  had  been  executed  in 
prison,  and  his  departed  spirit  had  come  to  visit 
them.  I  wonder  if  St.  James  who  afterwards  wrote 
"The  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick,"  was  in 
this  prayer-meeting,  for  there  would  appear  to 
be  a  most  entire  absence  of  this  quality  in  the 
prayers  that  night.  But  St.  Peter  kept  on  knocking, 
and  at  last  convinced  them  their  request  had  been 
granted,  and  they  were  most  astonished.  Nothing 
really  seems  quite  so  incredible  to  many  men,  and 
Christian  men  too,  as  an  answer  to  prayer. 

I  think  here,  too,  we  may  find  a  parallel  to-day  ; 
for  Miiller  and  others  who  looked  on  prayer  as 
indeed  a  power,  and  proved  it  to  be  so,  were  long 
accounted  very  visionary  if  not  insane.  This  is  an 
important  part  of  our  subject,  for  the  question  often 
arises  "  How  far  is  it  safe  to  trust  God  to  answer 
our  prayers  for  material  things  ?  "  And  though  of 
course  we  all  say  at  first  "  What  a  dreadful  ques- 
tion !  "  when  it  practically  comes  to  the  point,  the 
answers  are  very  diverse  and  the  practice  still  more 

c 


i8  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

so,  in  spite  of  the  wonderful  examples  of  Miiller  and 
others.  I  was  dining  with  a  man  some  time  ago  who 
many  years  before  had  been  used  by  God  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  the  higher  spiritual  life  in  England 
from  which  sprang  the  Keswick  and  other  conven- 
tions ;  and  he  asked  me  with  real  interest  if  I  could  tell 
him  what  was  the  secret  of  the  immense  power  that 
prevailed  in  all  his  meetings  at  that  time,  for  it  had 
always  puzzled  him.  I  said  I  thought  it  was 
because  he  seemed  to  have  brought  home  to  the 
Christians  of  England  that  if  God  were  only  trusted 
He  would  be  as  good  as  His  word.  "  I  suppose 
that  must  be  it,"  he  said. 

Perhaps  here  I  should  turn  back  to  Acts  ii.  13. 
When  the  first  Christian  assembly  was  held  it  was 
thought  by  some  to  be  a  gathering  of  drunkards  (as 
I  have  pointed  out  elsewhere).  "They  are  filled 
with  new  wine."  Such  a  charge  almost  amounts  to 
one  of  temporary  insanity. 

We  pass  on  to  St.  Paul's  case  in  Acts  xxvi.  24, 
25.  "  Festus  said  with  a  loud  Yoice,  Paul,  thou  art 
mad;  thy  much  learning  doth  turn  thee  to 
madness.  But  Paul  saith,  I  am  not  mad,  most 
excellent  Festus,  but  speak  forth  words  of  truth  and 
soberness." 

This  again  was  on  an  occasion  when  St.  Paul  was 
speaking  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ ;  and  there 
is  little  doubt  that  it  was  this  truth,  coupled 
with  St.  Paul's  account  of  his  conversion  that 
caused  Festus  to  exclaim  that  he  was  a  madman. 


THE    BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN    SANITY      19 

There  was  evidently  nothing  in  his  manner  or 
bearing  to  induce  such  a  charge. 

St.  Paul,  however,  speaking  of  his  own  conduct 
previous  to  his  conversion  says  that  he  was 
"  exceedingly  mad  "  against  the  Christians,  using 
practically  the  same  expression  against  himself  that 
Festus  used  with  regard  to  him  when  he  was  being 
persecuted  in  his  turn.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
Festus  would  consider  St.  Paul's  action  in  persecut- 
ing the  Church  as  exceedingly  sane. 

So  that  we  observe  here  that  conduct  which  would 
be  ordinarily  thought  sane,  may  by  Christians  be 
considered  mad  ;  while  conduct  thought  to  be  mad 
by  others,  may  by  Christians  be  looked  on  as  sane. 

The  next  passage  I  shall  adduce  is  in  i  Cor.  xiv. 
23.  "  If  therefore  the  whole  church  be  assembled 
together,  and  all  speak  with  tongues,  and  there 
come  in  men  unlearned  or  unbelieving,  v/ill  they  not 
say  that  ye  are  mad  ?  " 

This  is,  I  think,  a  very  important  passage,  because 
it  shows  that  though  unlearned  or  unbelieving  men 
may  (as  in  this  case)  be  erroneous  in  their  judgment, 
it  is  not  therefore  to  be  disregarded.  All  occasion 
for  such  a  mistake  is  to  be  removed,  and  all  is  to  be 
done  with  sobriety  and  intelligence. 

The  last  passage  is  in  2  Cor,  v.  13.  "  For 
whether  we  are  beside  ourselves,  it  is  unto  God  ;  or 
whether  we  are  of  sober  mind,  it  is  unto  you." 

The  apostle  here  acknowledges  that  in  the  trans- 
ports of  Divine  love  the  soul   is  as  it  Vv^ere  for  the 


20  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

time  "bewitched"  or  "beside  itself"  with  joy; 
sobriety  comes  when  face  to  face  with  human  need 
and  misery.* 

This   also   is  a    passage   we   do   well   to  ponder 
as  it  shows  that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  one  can 
be  "beside  oneself"    rightly  and  with    God,    and 
indeed  while  actually  entirely  in  one's  right  mind. 
****** 

These  few  passages  have  already  thrown  valuable 
light  upon  one  side  of  our  subject,  and  we  doubt 
not  the  other  side  will  be  illumined  still  more  by  the 
numerous  passages  in  which  sobriety  is  enjoined. 
One  word  only,  with  its  five  derivations,  is  used  in 
the  New  Testament  to  denote  soundness  of  mjnd, 
and  that  is  aoo^^oiv.  Its  derivations  are  the  noun 
acocppoavvT] — wisdom  ;  the  adverb  aco(fip6va)<i — wisely  ; 
the  noun  aw^povia^i6<; — soundness  of  mind;  and 
the  two  verbs  aw^poveco  and  aw^povi^w — to  be 
wise ;  (xdocppcov  and  its  derivatives  are  translated 
sober,  temperate,  discreet,  of  a  sound  mind,  of  a 
sober  mind,  and  of  a  right  mind.  The  passages  are 
twelve  in  number. 

I.  The  first  is  Acts  xxvi.  25.  "But  Paul  saith, 
1  am  not  mad,  most  noble  Festus ;  but  speak  forth 
words  of  truth  and  soberness."  Here  soberness  is 
placed  in  direct  opposition  to  madness  and  is 
equivalent  to  sanity.  Here  the  words  are  sane 
words. 

*An  analogous  passage  is, "  Be  not  drunk  with  wine,  wherein 
is  excess ;  but  be  filled  with  the  Spirit "  (Eph.  v.  18). 


THE    BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN   SANITY       2i 

2.  The  next  passage  is  Romans  xii.  3.  "For 
I  say,  through  the  grace  that  was  giYen  me,  to 
every  man  that  is  among  you,  not  to  think  of  him- 
self more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think ;  but  so  to 
think  as  to  think  soberly,  according  as  God  hath 
dealt  to  each  man  a  measure  of  faith."  Here  we 
see  that  our  thoughts  are  to  be  sane  thoughts,  as 
well  as  our  words  sane  words. 

3.  2  Cor.  V.  13.  "  Whether  we  are  beside  our- 
selves it  is  unto  God ;  or  whether  we  are  of  sober 
(sane)  mind,  it  is  unto  you."  This  seems  to  teach, 
as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  that  whatever  our 
transports  in  our  devotion  and  worship,  in  our  ser- 
vice to  man,  a  sane  mind  is  always  to  be  conspicu- 
ously present.     This  is  sanity  in  service. 

4.  I  Tim.  ii.  g.     "In  like  manner  that  women 
adorn  themselves  in  modest  apparel,  with  shame- 
fastness    and    sobriety."       The    first    word    diSox: 
"  shamefastness  "  or  "  shamefacedness  "  is  only  used 
once  elsewhere  in    the  New  Testament,  Heb.   xii. 
28,   "with  reverence   {atSco'i)  and  godly  fear;    for 
our  God  is  a  consuming  fire."     This  then,  this  holy 
reverence  and  awe  together  with  sanity  is  to  adorn 
all  Christian   women.      Nothing    could    be    more, 
opposed  in  its  spirit  to  the  levity  and  flippancy  audi 
familiarity,  to  say  nothing  of  the  undue  excitement} 
with  which  holy  mysteries  are  too  often  approached 
in  the  present  day.     Here  we  get  sanity  in  women. 

5.  I  Tim.  ii.  15.  "She  shall  be  saved  through 
the  (or  her)  child  bearing,  if  they  continue  in  faith 


92  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

and  love  and  sanctification  with  sobriety  or  (sanity)." 

I  will  not  discuss  this  somewhat  obscure  passage 
now,  as  it  does  not  concern  our  subject,  but  merely 
remark  that  here  we  get  sanity  in  connection  with 
motherhood. 

6.  2  Tim.  i.  7.     "For  God  gave  us  not  a  spirit  of 
fearfulness,  but  of  power  and  love  and  discipline  " 

(or  a  sound  or  a  sane  mind).  Here  is  a  text  worthy 
of  close  study,  and  yet  I  am  unable  here  to  do  more 
than  glance  at  it.  Three  things  are  here  placed 
together,  not  only  as  not  being  incompatible  with 
each  other,  but  positively  harmonious  and  forming 
the  three  sides  of  a  true  Christian  character. 
Spiritual  power  is  often  made  an  excuse  for 
extravagances  of  conduct ;  not  so  here.  Love, 
too,  is  made  to  cover  more  sins  than  were 
ever  contemplated  by  the  apostle  Peter  (i  Pet. 
iv.  8)  and  condone  all  sorts  of  excesses  ;  not  so  here. 
With  both  power  and  love  are  coupled,  to  maintain 
the  balance  of  Christian  conduct,  the  essential 
element  of  a  sane  mind.  But  then  there  is  the  other 
side.  Of  little  value  is  this  boasted  sanity  unless  it 
acts  as  a  handmaid  to  the  two  great  qualities  of 
power  and  love.  Power  that  propels  the  life  and 
love  that  guides  its  direction.  A  little  reflection 
will  show  us  how  perfectly  the  last  of  the  three  is 
the  complement  of  the  other  two.  So  that  here  we 
get  sanity  in  mind. 

7.  Titus  i.  8.     (The  bishop  must   be)  **  giyen  to 
hospitality,  a  lover  of  good,  sober  (or  sane)  minded, 


THE   BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN   SANITY       23 

just,  holy,  temperate."  We  here  get  as  an  essential 
quality  in  a  church  dignitary  that  sanity  and  sobriety 
of  which  I  speak.  So  that  here  we  get  sanity  in 
office. 

8.   Titus   ii.  2.      "  That  aged  men  be  temperate  / 
grave,  sober-minded."     This  is  perhaps  the  easiest  I 
exhortation  to  follow  that  we  have  yet  found.     For  \ 
when  the  hot  blood  of  youth  is  spent  and  the  years 
of  discretion  attained,  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  be 
sober-minded.     Here  then  we  get  sanity  in  old  age. 

g.  Titus  ii.  5.  "The  young  women  to  be  sober- 
minded,  chaste,  workers  at  home."  The  exhorta- 
tion to  sobriety  in  v.  4  found  in  the  authorized 
version  is  left  out  in  the  revised,  and  I  do  not  there- 
fore give  it.  But  here  in  v.  5  is  the  special 
exhortation  to  young  wives  to  be  sober  in  their 
general  conduct.     This  then  is  sanity  in  marriage. 

10.   Titus  ii.   6.       "  The  younger  men  likewise 
exhort  to  be  sober  minded."     The  Bible  does  not\ 
seem  to  leave  a  condition  of  life  without  its  especial  ' 
exhortation   to    sober-mindedness,    so  important   a  j 
place  does  this  subject  occupy  in  Scripture.     Here, ' 
indeed,  the  exhortation  is  needed,  though  not  always 
heeded.     While  the  right  place  must  be  given  to 
enthusiasm,  and  to  zeal  and  devotion,  there  must  be 
this  sober-mindedness  with  it  all.     And  this  is  not 
always  popular ;  though  if  we  consider  the  supreme 
importance   that   the   name    of  Christ    should    be 
honoured   through   the   conduct    and   character   of 
those  who  proclaim  themselves  His   followers,  the 


24  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

great  part  this  sober-mindedness  plays  in  the 
conduct  of  young  men  is  at  once  apparent.  This 
then  is  sanity  in  youth. 

II.  Titus  ii.  II,  12.  "  For  the  grace  of  God  hath 
appeared  bringing  salvation  to  all  men,  instructing 
us  to  the  extent  that,  denying  ungodliness  and 
worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly  and  right- 
eously and  godly  in  this  present  world." 

The  grace  of  God  brings  salvation,  but  it  also 
instructs  the  one  who  is  saved,  the  Christian  man,  in 
his  threefold  bearing  towards  himself,  his  neighbour, 
and  his  God.  In  his  own  conduct  there  is  but  one 
quality  enjoined — sobriety  or  sanity.  This  must  be 
well  marked.  Towards  his  neighbour  he  is  to  be 
righteous,  towards  God,  godly.  And  the  three  begin 
with  sobriety  and  sanity.  Does  not  this  passage 
truly  give  a  foremost  place  to  our  subject  ?  Suppose 
for  a  moment  it  said  instructing  us  to  speak  in 
tongues  or  to  work  miracles,  or  even  to  heal  the  sick. 
But  no  !  the  first  and  foremost  instruction  of  the 
grace  of  God  is  none  of  these  things,  nor  any  gift 
whatever,  but  sanity  and  sobriety  in  bearing  and 
conduct. 

I  think  those  who  give  full  weight  to  this  passage 
will  feel  that  sanity  could  not  be  put  in  a  more 
prominent  or  important  place.  So  that  here  we  get 
sanity  in  conduct. 

12.  I  Pet.  iv.  7.  "  But  the  end  of  all  things  is  at 
hand,  be  ye  therefore  of  sound  mind,  and  be  sober 
ojito  prayer."     The  word  sober  here  we  have  not 


THE   BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN   SANITY       25 

met  before,  but  will  discuss  later  ;  it  is  the  sound 
mind  that  belongs  to  the  root  '  aax^pcov '  which  we 
are  now  considering.  Here  is  a  fitting  exhortation 
for  a  last  word  in  sanity,  and  the  word  therefore 
comes  to  us  with  great  force  in  connection  with  the 
end  of  all  things  which  draws  near.  We  began 
with  sanity  and  we  must  end  with  it,  too,  and  for  a 
special  reason.  Those  who  carefully  study  2  Peter 
ii.  will  soon  discover  the  reason,  for  it  is  in  the  days 
of  disorder,  when  much  insanity  abounds,  that 
sanity  is  hard  to  find,  and  hence  it  is  so  earnestly 
enjoined  here. 

This  then  is  sanity  to  the  end. 

Let  me  sum  up  the  wonderful  counsels  connected > 
with  this  one  word  '  aoi^poiv.'  It  is  earnestly  enjoined 
as  a  distinguishing  characteristic  to  young  men,  young 
women,  married  women,  mothers  and  old  men.  It 
is  enjoined  in  conduct,  in  office,  in  mind,  in  service, 
in  thought,  and  in  word,  and  lastly  it  is  to  continue/ 
to  the  end. 

We  may  notice  here  that  of  the  t welyejjjassages, 
nine  are  from  epistles  to  individuals  and  not  to  the 
C hu r ch7"sHe wi ng~th at  sanity  is  essentially  a  quality 
appertaining  to  each  ipdividual  Christian,  rather 
than  to  corporate  bodies  ;  for  after  all,  it  is  this 
sanity  in  individual  lives  that  checks  all  unseemly 
displays  in  large  gatherings  of  people. 

Before  leaving  this  subject  I  should  like  to  call 
attention  to  four  other  Greek  words  enjoining 
virtues  akin  to  sanity. 


26  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

\  The  first  is  the  one  beloved  of  Matthew  Arnold, 
iTrieUeLa  and  translated  by  him  "  sweet  reason- 
ableness." It  occurs  seven  times,  Acts  xxiv.  4  ;  2 
/  Con  X.  I ;  Phil.  iv.  5  ;  i  Tim.  iii.  3 ;  Titus  iii.  2  ; 
James  iii.  17 ;  i  Pet.  ii.  18  ;  and  five  times  it  is 
translated  gentle  and  gentleness,  once  forbearance, 
and  once  clemency. 

It  is  an  eminently  sane  quality.  The  better 
balanced  a  man  is,  the  wiser,  the  more  sure  of  him- 
self, the  gentler  does  he  become,  the  more  reasonable 
is  his  bearing  to  all.  To  me  this  sweet  reasonable- 
ness of  Christianity  is  a  most  precious  and  fragrant 
quality ;  and  sometimes  when  one  has  unhappily 
been  immersed  for  hours  in  some  scene  of  strife  or 
bigotry  amongst  Christians,  it  is  like  an  oasis  in  the 
desert  to  come  across  a  spirit  graced  with  this 
iTTieUeia. 

Let  no  bitter  or  narrow  spirit  cry  out  that  it  is 
easy  to  be  gentle  if  indifferent. 

It  is  not  easy  to  be  gentle,  the  eTrieUeia  of  which 
the  Bible  speaks,  comes  from  companying  with  the 
Master,  and  is  a  heavenly  grace.  It  has  also  no 
connection  with  indifference,  but  a  very  close  con- 
nection with  sanity. 

A  brief  study  of  the  passages,  for  which  I  have  not 
time  here,  will  well  repay  the  trouble  and  bring  forth 
some  of  the  hidden  beauties  of  the  word. 

The  next  word  is  vi](})co  and  its  derivative 
vr](paXe6';.  This  means  a  watchful  soberness,  and 
includes  also  the  sobriety  that  comes  from  abstinence. 


THE   BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN   SANITY        27 

It  is  not  exactly  the  sobriety  of  sanity  of  which  we 
have  spoken,  but  the  sobriety  of  being  on  the  watch 
and  alert. 

The  passages  are  i  Thess.  v.  6,  8  ;  i  Tim.  iii.,  2, 
II;  2  Tim.  iv.  5;  Titus  ii.  2  ;  i  Pet.  i.  13,  iv.  7, 
V.  8,     _ 

Six  times  the  word  is  translated  sober,  and  thrice 
temperate.  It  is  closely  akin  to  sanity.  Each 
passage  should  be  carefully  studied. 

The  third  word  is  iyKpareia,  which  again  means 
temperate  or  sober,  but  from  yet  another  different 
standpoint — that  of  self-control.  If  anyone  wishes 
to  spend  a  profitable  hour  and  has  the  most 
elementary  knowledge  of  Greek,  let  him  with  a  good 
concordance  and  a  good  dictionary  look  up  the 
meaning  and  uses  in  the  New  Testament  of  these 
three  forms  of  sobriety :  the  sobriety  of  the  sound 
mind  {aco(f)pa)v),  the  sobriety  of  watchfulness 
{vi](j)o)),  and  the  sobriety  of  self-control  {iyKpdreia). 
This  word  is  only  used  six  times,  and  five  times  it 
is  translated  temperance  or  self-control  and  once 
continence.  The  passages  are  remarkable  and 
worth  a  brief  reference. 

I.  Acts  xxiv.  25.  "And  as  Paul  reasoned  of 
righteousness  and  temperance  and  the  judgment  to 
come,  Felix  trembled."  Compare  this  last  word 
carefully  with  Titus  ii.  12  and  note  the  three 
subjects  in  each  ;  one  personal,  one  relative,  and  one 
divine. 

In  Titus  the  grace  of  God  instructs  us  to  be  sober 


28  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

in  ourselves,  righteous  to  our  neighbour,  and  godly 
to  God. 

In  the  Acts,  St.  Paul  speaks  of  self-control  of 
ourselves,  righteousness  with  our  neighbour,  and 
the  coming  judgment  before  God.  It  is  again  most 
remarkable  that  of  all  the  qualities  of  human  conduct 
and  character  St.  Paul  speaks  of  but  one,  temperance 
or  self-control.  This  is,  of  course,  closely  akin  to 
sanity. 

2.  The  next  passage  is  i  Cor.  vii.  9,  where  the 
self-control  of  the  body  is  spoken  of. 

3.  The  next  is  i  Cor.  ix.  25  :  "Every  man 
that  striveth  in  the  games  is  temperate  (self-control) 
in  all  things,"  So  in  the  Christian  race.  He  that 
would  win  and  wear  the  crown  must  through  his 
life  be  sane  and  self-controlled. 

4.  The  next  is  Gal.  v.  23,  where  this  virtue  is 
one  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  and  one  without  which 
the  Christian  would  be  very  incomplete  and  bring 
but  little  glory  to  God. 

5.  Titus  i.  8.  Here  the  virtue  is  an  essential 
quality  in  a  bishop,  as  well  as  we  have  already  seen 
— a  sound  mind. 

6.  2  Peter  i.  5,6:  In  your  faith  supply  virtue 
and  in  your  virtue,  knowledge  ;  and  in  your  know- 
ledge, temperance ;  and  in  your  temperance, 
patience  ;  and  in  your  patience,  godliness." 

Here  in  St.  Peter's  famous  addition  sum,  so  hard  to 
work  and  get  the  answer  right,   one   of  the    most 


THE  BIBLE  ON   CHRISTIAN  SANITY       29 

important  figure  is  self-control,  and  it  is  the  want 
of  this  virtue  that  so  often  makes  the  total 
wrong. 

The  fourth  and  last  of  the  words  I  would  group 
round  acocjipcov  is  vyidtvo)  and  its  derivative,  v'yiy]<i 
This  means  sound  in  the  sense  of  healthy, 
or  whole,  and  is  applied  to  both  body  and  mind. 
Omitting  the  former  passages,  we  find  ten  that  refer 
to  mental  action.  A  whole,  healthy  mind  is  un- 
doubtedly a  sane  mind,  and  these  ten  passages 
have  therefore  a  very  close  bearing  on  Christian 
sanity.  They  differ,  however,  greatly  in  their  use 
from  those  we  have  already  considered.  The  pas- 
sages are  i  Tim.  i.  10  ;  vi.  3  ;  2  Tim.  i.  13  ;  iv.  3 ; 
Titus  i.  9 ;  i.  13 ;  ii.  i  ;  ii.  2 ;  ii.  8 ;  and 
3  John  2. 

The  words  we  have  reviewed  so  far  refer  almost 
entirely  to  personal  sanity  of  conduct  and  character  ; 
but  this  word,  with  the  one  exception  of  3  John  2, 
which  after  all  may  refer  to  the  body,  has  nothing 
personal  about  it,  but  refers  entirely  to  the  doctrine, 
teaching,  and  faith  of  the  person.  This  is  a  question 
of  sanity  in  teaching  of  wholesome,  healthy,  hygienic, 
sane  words  and  doctrine,  and  this  word  completes 
our  subject,  because  sanity  in  doctrine  and  teaching 
is  as  important  to-day  as  sanity  in  conduct,  and 
wholesome  words  as  much  needed  as  a  self-controlled 
life. 

The  passages  where  this  word  occurs  are  so 
important  that   I   must  touch  on  one  or  two.      In 


3©  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

the  second  (i  Tim.  vi.  3)  these  "  sound  "  words  are 
said  to  be  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
there  is  the  most  solemn  warning  to  keep  to  them. 
The  next  passage  (2  Tim.  i.  13)  is  )'et  more  emphatic. 
"  Hold  the  pattern  of  sound  words  which  thou  hast 
heard  from  me." 

In  the  midst  of  the  advanced  and  new  teaching 
that  abounded  even  then,  the  pattern  of  sound  v/ords 
was  to  be  zealously  maintained ;  and  now  standing 
at  a  period  of  nearly  two  millenniums  later,  this 
pattern  has  not  become  obsolete  or  of  less  value. 
But  the  next  passage  shews  that  it  is  certainly  less 
acceptable  and  cannot  compete  in  popularity  with 
the  new  phases  of  faith  or  "  unfaith  "  that  abound. 
2  Tim.  iv.  3 :  "  For  the  time  will  come  when  they 
will  not  endure  the  sound  doctrine ;  but  having 
itching  ears,  will  heap  to  themselves  teachers  after 
their  own  lusts."  Titus,  too,  is  earnestly  enjoined 
by  the  apostle  in  his  Epistle  (Titus  i.  13)  to  reprove 
the  Cretans  sharply,  that  "  they  may  be  sound  in  the 
faith,"  not  giving  heed  to  Jewish  fables.  He  tells 
Titus  himself  (Titus  ii.  i)  to  speak  "  the  things  which 
befit  the  sound  doctrine,"  and  ever  in  his  doctrine 
to  shew  "  uncorruptness,  gravely  sound  speech 
that  cannot  be  gainsaid  "  all  of  which  points  to  the 
supreme  importance  which  St.  Paul  attached  to  this 
quality  of  soundness  of  speech  and  of  mind  in 
speech. 

So  that  now  we  have  the  full  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament  that  bears   upon  our  subject,  and  most 


THE   BIBLE   ON   CHRISTIAN    SANITY      31 

wonderful   it   is,    may  I    illustrate   the   five    words 
thus  : — 

eTneUeta  iyfcpdT€ta 

(gentleness.)  -.^.^^  ^^.^^  (self-control.) 

tn^PO^TNH 

-  (SANITY.)  ^.^^^^^ 

vi](f)aX€6^    ""'^  ^^  vyidu'Q) 

(sobriety.)  (soundness.) 


CHAPTER  III. 
What  is  Sanity  in  Christianity  ? 

HUMAN  minds  are  quite  competent  to  judge 
of  all  human  affairs,  and  the  "common 
sense "  of  civilised  humanity  has  long 
since  laid  down  a  rough  but  intelligible  and  generally- 
workable  standard  of  sober  and  rational  conduct  as 
contrasted  with  that  of  inebriety  or  insanity.  The 
rational  common  sense  of  the  community  compre- 
hends what  is  meant  by  sanity  and  insanity,  how- 
ever impossible  they  may  find  the  words  to  be  of 
definition.  If  we  turn  to  the  dictionaries,  this 
difficulty  of  definition  is  ludicrously  obvious. 
Murray,  in  his  monumental  work  can  only  define 
"  insanity  "  as  *'  unsound  in  mind."  This  dictionaiy, 
unfortunately,  is  not  yet  completed  as  far  as 
"  sanity." 

Webster  defines  "  sane "  as  "  possessing  a 
rational  mind ;  having  the  mental  faculties  in  such 
condition  as  to  be  able  to  anticipate  and  judge  of 
the  effects  of  one's  actions  in  an  ordinary  manner." 

A  most  cumbrous  and  unsatisfactory  definition, 
that  leaves  us  rather  worse  off  than  before,  as  we  read 

83 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?     33 

it ;  for  if  such  a  test  were  applied  to  all  our  actions 
few  of  us  would  be  pronounced  "  sane." 

The  Century  dictionary  gives  "sane  "  as  " mentally 
sound  " — which  we  knew  before. 

I  merely  adduce  these  instances  to  show  that  even 
to  the  highly-trained  minds  of  these  dictionary 
authorities  these  words  are  really  undefinable. 
Nevertheless  practically,  everyone  pronounces  with 
great  assurance  whether  such  a  person  or  such 
action  were  sane  or  insane. 

It  is,  as  I  h?ve  already  suggested  in  the  first 
chapter,  quite  another  matter  when  we  have  to  deal 
with  life  and  conduct  into  which  a  fresh  and  higher 
motive  power  has  entered.  On  this  point  indeed  it 
is  necessary  to  have  a  clear  understanding  if  we  are 
to  really  grasp  our  subject. 

There  certainly  is  such  a  thing  as  a  higher 
spiritual  life  which  all  men  have  not  entered.  Those 
who  have  are,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  "  born 
again";  and  the  time  or  occasion  of  entrance,  if 
at  all  marked  or  sudden,  is  called  "  conversion," 
concerning  which  I  shall  bring  forward  some  most 
interesting  facts  in  the  next  chapter.  Those  thus 
spiritually  awake  are  called  in  a  special  sense 
"  Children  of  God,"  as  in  John  i.  12  where  this 
birthright  is  made  conditional  upon  "  receiving " 
Christ  and  not  upon  natural  birth.  They  are  also 
in  an  especial  way  indwellt  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God  (Romans  viii.  10,  11).  To  some,  of  course,  this 
"  new  birth "   is   said   to   be   the   time  when  man 

D 


34  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

awakes  to  his  right  and  true  status.  Such  is  gener- 
ally the  teaching  of  the  "  new  theology  "  school. 
To  the  Bible,  however,  the  awakening  is  the  dis- 
covery of  one's  sinful  state  and  need  of  Divine 
mercy,  and  the  "  new  birth  "  is  not  the  recognition 
of  any  existing  condition,  but  of  entrance  into  the 
new  life  by  the  external  agency  of  the  Spirit  (John 
iii.  5)  and  that  of  the  Word  of  God*  (i  Peter  i.  23). 
I  merely  allude  to  the  new  birth  to  show  that  by  it, 

*Water  is  possibly  mentioned,  both  in  its  typical  meaning 
as  representing  God's  word,  and  in  its  literal  significance  in 
Christian  baptism  as  connected  with  belief.  This  literal  mean- 
ing is,  I  know,  often  denied  ;  but  it  is  a  little  strained  to  think 
that  to  a  self-righteous,  though  enquiring  Pharisee,  our  Lord 
would  use  water  without  explanation  to  mean  the  word  of  God, 
of  which  it  is  not  generally  regarded  as  a  type ;  a  sword  and 
fire  being  both  better  known  figures.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not 
unlikely  Christ  may  have  referred  to  literal  water,  if,  as  has 
been  supposed,  Nicodemus  was  one  of  those  who  stayed  up  in 
Jerusalem,  and  did  not  go  down,  as  did  others,  to  John  to  be 
baptized  in  the  Jordan,  confessing  their  sins.  This  use  of  water 
would  at  once  bring  the  matter  home  to  his  conscience,  and 
may  be  taken  as  a  parallel  to  the  fire  of  coals  in  the  resurrec- 
tion, carrying  Peter's  thoughts  back  to  the  fire,  by  the  side  of 
which  he  had  denied  his  Lord.  To  suppose,  however, 
that  it  teaches  baptismal  regeneration  and  that  water 
so  used  has  any  saving  efficacy,  is  beside  the  tenor  of 
the  passage  ;  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  of  the  two,  it  is 
the  Spirit  that  is  the  agent  of  the  new  birth  ;  for  it  is  the  Spirit 
that  quickeneth  and  giveth  life,  and  not  water.  But  I  must  not 
discuss  the  subject  here ;  and  only  mention  it  as  a  protest 
against  arbitrarily  limiting  any  Scripture  to  a  single  interpreta- 
tion. 


WHAT  IS  SANITY  IN   CHRISTIANITY?      35 

one  is  lifted  into  a  higher  spiritual  existence  in 
which  the  soul  is  in  touch  with  God,  in  the  special 
relationship  of  a  child  with  a  father. 

Observe,  without  this  spiritual  life  one  cannot 
"  see  the  Kingdom  of  God." 

Perhaps  one  can  understand  this  more  readily 
if  one  considers  for  a  moment  the  conditions  by 
which  life  in  various  stages  is  limited. 

Take  a  fish  and  a  frog  ;  the  former  dies  in  agonies 
out  of  water,  whereas  the  frog  is  perfectly  happy. 
Moreover  the  frog  can  breathe  the  pure  air  of  heaven 
with  lungs,  the  fish  only  the  aerated  water  with  gills. 
The  parallel  is  far  from  perfect,  but  it  will  suffice  ;  for 
the  difference  between  what  the  Bible  calls  "the 
natural  man  "  and  "  the  spiritual  man  "  is  just  as 
marked.  The  former  is  perfectly  adapted  for  his 
milieu ;  and  with  things  around  he  is  in  perfect 
touch — it  is  the  things  above  that  puzzle  him.  He  is 
a  kind  and  good  man  and  admirably  adapted  to 
adorn  the  plane  on  which  he  lives.  But  he  is  not  a 
spiritual  man.  Supposing  some  text,  some  whisper 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  awake  him  to  a  higher  life  ;  in 
the  language  of  our  Lord  he  is  "  born  again  "  as 
"  from  above  "  ;  and  the  result  is  a  Christian  life.  He 
can  now  breathe  a  spiritual  air  that  would  have  been 
positively  poison  to  him  before.  He  can  live  in  a 
Christian  environment  and  society  that  he  would 
not  go  near  before  ;  and  the  man  who  can  do  this, 
can  and  will  breathe  the  pure  air  of  heaven  when  he 
exchanges  this  world  for  the  next ;   while  previous 


36  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

to  the  change,  he  could  not  live  in  heaven  even  were 
he  taken  there — the  air  is  too  rarified. 

That  is  why  Christ  said  "  Ye  must  be  born  again." 
It  is  no  question  of  expediency,  nor  can  we  say  that 
even  if  we  are  not,  the  love  of  God  will  still  take  us 
to  heaven  all  the  same.  Such  an  action  would 
be  cruelty,  not  mercy.  We  must  be  fitted  for 
a  sphere  before  we  can  Hve  in  it ;  and  Scripture 
shows  conclusively  that  the  "fitting"  does  not 
consist  in  education  or  ethics,  or  in  any  sort  of 
improvement  of  the  old  life,  but  in  the  raising  of 
the  man  to  a  new  and  higher  life. 

This  being  clearly  understood,  it  will  be  readily 
apprehended  that  many  of  the  rules  and  regulations 
so  admirably  adapted  for  the  material  life  fail  in  their 
application  to  the  spiritual ;  but  the  Christian  does 
not,  therefore,  in  Christian  matters,  give  up  his 
common  sense.  On  the  contrary,  the  Apostles' 
stern  command  that  in  Christian  gatherings  and 
procedure  "  All  things  were  to  be  done  decently  and 
in  order  "  (i  Cor.  xiv.  40)  is  emphatic,  and  can  be 
thoroughly  understood  and  warmly  approved  of  by 
all.  Only  we  must  remember  that,  though  in  the 
spiritual  world  there  is  nothing  contrary  to  reason, 
there  is  much  that  is  above  and  beyond  it,  much  that 

"  The  world's  coarse  thumb 
And  finger  failed  to  plumb." 

And  therefore  we  cannot  fully  accept  the  judgment 
of  the  natural  man  as  to  what  is  sane  or  insane  in 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?      37 

such  matters.  As  I  have  shown  in  the  person  of 
Festus,  he  is  ready  to  call  much  conduct  'mad,'  that 
is  not  so  at  all.  The  Christian,  however,  using  the 
same  common  sense,  but  enlightened  by  a  spiritual 
understanding  and  using  a  spiritual  judgment, 
should  be  able  to  discern  the  one  from  the  other. 

I  think  the  following  remarks  of  Lord  Penzance, 
the  famous  judge,  are  of  great  value  in  this 
connection : — 

**  It  is  not  assuredly  in  the  region  of  enthusiasm 
that  we  must  look  for  the  calm  exercise  of  pure 
reason  and  temperate  and  well-balanced  ideas.  Still 
less  must  we  expect  that  the  fervour  of  fanaticism 
will  follow  in  the  slow  steps  of  philosophy." 

"  It  is  hardly  then  by  the  mere  test  of  their  reason- 
ableness that  the  wild  thoughts  of  religious 
enthusiasts  can  be  brought  to  a  standard  for  judg- 
ment of  their  sanity." 

"  But  there  are  surely  limits  even  to  so  mythical  a 
subject,  within  which  the  human  mind  in  a  state  of 
health  is  unreasonable  or  extravagant  ;  and  the 
common  experiences  of  life  give  us  a  sense  of  those 
limits  sufficient  for  the  formation  of  judgment  in 
most  cases.  To  draw  the  exact  line — if  there  be 
one — which  defines  such  limits  may  be  impossible, 
but  to  affirm  that  some  instances  surpass  it,  is  not  so." 

This  passage  is  admirable  in  its  strong  common 
sense,  and  though  showing  no  special  sympathy 
with  Christian  thought,  has  a  tone  that  commends 
itself  to  every  honest  mind, 


38  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

The  standpoint  from  which  we  study  this  question 
is  of  all  importance  in  coming  to  our  conclusions. 

To  understand  this  subject,  we  must  at  any  rate 
avoid  two  positions.  One,  that  of  the  asylum  doctor 
who  brands  all  above  the  dead  level  of  common 
experience,  such  as  the  recognition  of  the  blackness 
of  sin,  or  the  joy  of  deliverance  from  it,  as  insane; 
the  other  that  of  the  extreme  religionist  who 
passes  all  absurdities  as  normal  and  sane,  if  only 
they  are  done  in  the  name  of  God. 

The  only  safe  standpoint  is  that  of  strong  common 
,    sense  enlightened   by    a   Christianity   whose   judg- 
ments are  guided  by  the  Bible. 
'  t      The  standards  of  sanity  are  of  course  as  diverse 
{  I  as  those  of  rfght  and  wrong ;  for  one  man — as  the 
;   proverb  runs — "  may  steal  a  horse,  while  another  must 
:    not  look  over  the  hedge." 

To  the  mere  materialist,  to  talk  of  and  believe  in 
,  a  spiritual  world  at  all  is  insanity, 
f      To  the  man  of  the  world,  however,  who  accepts 
conventional  religion,  such  talk  may   be   sane,   but 
to  display  any  active  interest  in  the  subject  is  not. 

To  the  ordinary  Churchman  such  interest  is  sane, 
but  to  go  about  slumming  or  preaching  in  the 
streets  is  bordering  on  the  insane. 

To  the  earnest  worker  this  preachingand  slumming 
may  be  sane  conduct,  while  to  speak  of  a  "  clean 
heart  "  and  complete  deliverance  from  the  taint  of  sin, 
is  not  sane  doctrine. 

To  the  perfectionist  this  is  sober  sanity,  but  to 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?      39 

indulge  in  the  tenets  of  the  *'  Agapemone  "  or  the 
antics  of  the  saltatory  Christian  damsels  that  lately 
visited  England  is  decidedly  not.  While  to  these 
damsels  themselves  of  course  their  own  conduct  is 
sane  and  scriptural. 

Here  are  six  progressive  standards  of  sanity,  and 
we  might  easily  have  made  six  more. 

Obviously  with  such  diverse  opinions  we  must  have 
some  reliable  guide,  and  this  is  only  to  be  found  m 
the  Word  of  God. 

Our  last  chapter,  speaking  of  the  Word  of  God, 
enshrined    in    five   words    what    must    characterize 
Christian  conduct.     It  is  well  to  repeat  them.     It  V 
must  be  sober,  it  must  be  self-controlled,  it  must  be  ) 
gentle,   it  must  be  sane,  and  it  must  be  of  sound/ 
mind. 

Considering  how  lightly  people   now  change   or 
give  up  their  faith,  and  the  force  with  which  winds 
of  doctrine    and    other   disturbing   gales   are   now 
blowing,  these  five  may  well  be  supplemented  by  one   * 
other  eminent  quality  of  Christian  sanity,  and  that  [ 
is  steadfastness. 

We  have  in  the  New  Testament  four  separate 
words  to  designate  this  invaluable  characteristic. 
y3e/3ato9  (2  Cor.  i.  7,  8),  steadfast  or  confirmed. 
<nepe6<i  (2  Tim.  ii.  ig),  steadfast  or  solid,  ehpalo'^ 
(i  Cor.  XV.  58),  steadfast  or  seated.  aTrjpcy/j.o'i  (2  Pet. 
iv.  ig),  steadfast  or  settled.  The  first,  /^e/Saio?,  is  a 
steadfastness  arising  from  evidence.  It  occurs  also 
in  Heb.  ii.  2  ;   iii.  6,  14;  vi.  ig,  and  elsewhere.     It  is 


40  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

the  result  of  the  faith  that  is  founded  on  the  rock,  on 
a  hope  that  is  anchored  within  the  veil,  and  of  a  love 
from  which  nothing  can  separate  us.  It  is  a  sort  of 
steadfastness  that  springs  from  a  power  outside  our- 
selves ;  from  the  living  power  of  Christ,  from  the  un- 
changeableness  of  God,  from  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit 
The  second  cxrepeo'i  occurs  also  i  Peter  v.  g,  where 
we  are  exhorted  to  be  steadfast  in  the  faith.  In  the 
first  passage  quoted,  in  2  Tim.  ii.  ig,  it  is  the 
foundation  of  God  that  is  steadfast.  In  both  cases  the 
special  meaningof  the  word  is  "  solid."  Stearic  acid 
is  a  solid  acid,  stearine  is  a  solid  fat,  and  crrepeo? 
means  solid.  Here  the  steadfastness  depends  on  an 
inward  quality,  and  not  upon  an  outward  support. 
This  inward  quality  is  the  reverse  of  what 
characterized  Reuben,  "  Unstable  as  water,  thou 
shalt  not  excel."  Fluid  Christians  are  of  little  use. 
They  run  freely  and  temporarily  adopt  the  shape  of 
any  mould  into  which  they  are  poured,  but  they  are 
utterly  unreliable  in  character  and  creed.  These 
characters  abound  to-day  when  all  things  are  being 
shaken.  And  though  fluidity  and  change  may  be  no 
proof  of  insanity,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
stability  from  solidity  is  a  condition  of  sanity.  Nor 
is  this  solidity  the  solidity  of  an  iceberg,  which  after 
all  soon  melts  when  it  meets  the  warm  gulf  stream 
of  the  higher  criticism,  or  advanced  thought.  No  ! 
this  is  a  solidity  not  due  to  coldness,  but  one 
combined  with  great  warmth,  with  fervent  love,  with 
every  Christian  grace, 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?     41 

The  next  form  of  steadfastness  is  e8palo<i.  This 
is  also  found  in  Col.  i.  23,  and  is  dependent  upon 
position  rather  than  on  condition.  It  means  "  seated," 
not  standing,  still  less  "halting  between  two 
opinions." 

Sitting  "  on  the  fence  "  is  not  the  sitting  referred  to 
here ;  but  sitting  solid  on  the  truth  itself  and  refusing 
to  move.  This  form  of  steadfastness  is  that  of  the 
man  who  has  bought  the  truth  and  will  not  sell  it. 
It  is  not  a  popular  attitude  to-day.  It  is  said  to 
savour  of  bigotry  and  conceit  to  be  so  sure  of  one's 
position.  It  is  better,  we  are  told,  to  stand  on  one 
leg,  ready  to  hop  off  when  the  next  learned  critique 
appears ;  or  better  still,  planting  one  foot  on  the  old 
theology  and  the  other  on  the  new,  to  rest  the  weight 
first  on  one  leg  and  then  on  the  other,  so  as  to 
show  no  undue  partiality.  It  is  called  a  liberal 
spirit,  but  it  is  liberal  with  that  which  is  Another's, 
and  that  is  God's. 

The  other  day  a  well-known  Archdeacon  of  the 
Anglican  Church  pleading  for  a  greater  liberality  on 
the  grounds  that  after  all  the  Spirit  had  "  diversities 
of  operations,"  specially  urged  the  acceptance  of 
the  "  theological  Liberal,"  who  (I  quote  his  own 
words)  "  while  holding  the  highest,  deepest  view  of 
the  Anglican  branch  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  is 
convinced  that  narrowness  of  definition  is  never  an 
effective  spiritual  force,  and  who,  feeling  strongly 
the  bondage  of  certain  conventional  standpoints, 
preaches    boldly,   not   the   unsearchable    riches    of 


42  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Christ,  but  the  universal  immanence  of  God.  His 
basis  is  that  what  comes  forth  from  the  Creator 
must  partake  of  the  Creator's  nature,  therefore  God 
and  man  are  essentially  inseverable.  This  basis 
implies  an  absolute  universalism,  and  a  negative  of 
the  essentiality  of  evil,  which,  if  essential,  must  be 
the  antithesis  of  God.  Yet  for  this  teaching  he  is 
sneered  at  as  a  Unitarian,  condemned  as  a  heretic, 
branded  as  dangerous  and  unorthodox,  and  but  for 
the  protection  of  his  position  as  an  incumbent  of  the 
established  Church,  would  be  cast  out  and  silenced." 

Only  one  greater  injustice  could  be  done  to  such 
an  one,  and  that  would  be  to  call  him  a  Christian, 
or  to  confound  him  with  one.  Such  utterances 
savour  strongly  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  whether  coming  from 
incumbents  of  churches  or  from  the  minister  of  a 
Temple ;  and  the  worthy  Archdeacon  assures  us 
these  "Liberals"  exist  in  great  numbers,  and  is 
evidently  proud  of  it.  One  thing  is  certain,  such 
tenets  and  those  who  hold  them  find  little  quarter 
and  scant  courtesy  in  the  Roman  Church  ;  which 
overlaid  with  error  and  superstition  as  it  undoubt- 
edly is,  shows  a  solidity  and  steadfastness  in  sitting 
firmly  on  the  old  foundations,  that  some  agile  and 
unstable  members  of  the  Anglican  Church  would 
do  well  to  copy. 

The  Christian  religion  seems  to  have  expanded 
into  the  very  largest  cloak  that  ever  was  made  ;  for 
innumerable  and  incongruous  crowds  are  gathered 
together  beneath  its  shelter ;  or,  to  use  the  Scriptural 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?      43 

simile,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  indeed  become 
"  a  great  tree,"  and  exceedingly  rare  and  curious  fowls 
both  "clean"  and  "unclean"  now  "lodge  in  the 
branches  thereof." 

The  fourth  variety  of  steadfastness  is  a-TTjpcyfjioq 
which  is  found  only  in  2  Pet.  iii.  17.  Here  it  is 
evidently  steadfastness  from  duration  of  time.  The 
Apostle  is  clearly  addressing  experienced  Christians 
who  had  long  known  the  truth,  for  in  iii.  i  he  writes 
to  stir  up  their  •'  pure  hearts  by  way  of  remembrance." 

To  my  knowledge  this  form  of  steadfastness  is 
much  needed  to-day ;  for  I  have  been  amazed  at  the 
old  and  experienced  Christian  men  who  have  lost 
this  quality,  and  who  are  now  drifting  about  on  a 
sea  of  doubt. 

Steadfastness,  then,  is  enjoined  by  St.  Paul  and 
St.  Peter  (for  all  our  illustrations  are  from  them)  on 
four   grounds  : — 

On  account  of  the  confirmation  of  the  truth. 

On  account  of  the  condition  of  the  believer. 

On  account  of  the  position  of  the  believer. 

On  account  of  the  duration  of  time  since  he 
believed. 

No  quality  is  a  greater  check  to  insanity 
amongst  Christians.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Christianity  does  ample  justice  to  all  the  varied 
mental  phenomena.  It  gives  to  each  faculty  its 
own  place.  It  appeals  to  the  whole  man.  I  don't 
say  "religion"  does  this,  but  Christianity;  and  I 
feel  sure  that  it  is   from   lives  confined  in  narrow 


44  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

religious  grooves  instead  of  expanded  on  broad 
Christian  lines  that  much  of  the  insanity  comes.  A. 
very  one-sided  character  is  sure  to  tumble  over, 
sooner  or  later,  for  there  is  no  balance. 

We  must  not  however  for  a  moment  suppose  that 
all  must  be  accounted  insane  who  do  not  conform  to 
the  five  requirements  I  have  enumerated  from 
the  New  Testament.  It  is  not  so  ;  though  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  limits  of  perfect  sanity  are 
narrower  in  the  Bible  than  in  the  world.  And  this 
is  what  we  should  expect,  for  the  standard  in  every- 
thing is  necessarily  higher.  Even  amongst  men 
few  of  us  are  perfectly  sane,  and  how  much  smaller 
in  proportion  is  the  number  among  Christians  who 
reach  the  perfectly  balanced  level.  Therefore 
instead  of  the  standard  of  sanity  being  more  lax,  as 
is  often  supposed,  it  is  really  more  rigid ;  only  those 
who  coms  short  of  the  five  qualities  I  have 
named  may  still  be  sane,  if  they  possess  one  of  them. 
How,  then,  is  the  path  of  sanity  and  steadfastness 
to  be  found  ?  How  is  one  to  learn  to  be  sober,  and 
gentle,  and  sound,  and  self-controlled  ?  The  great 
secret,  I  am  firmly  convinced,  and  I  beg  for  earnest 
}  consideration  of  it,  is  to  keep  nearer  to  God  than  to 
Christians.  One  can  stand  anything  if  one  dwells 
in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High.  Our  Lord 
could  face  all  the  contradictions  of  sinners  against 
Himself,  in  the  irritating  misunderstandings  and 
unbelief  of  His  own  family  at  Nazareth,  because  He 
4welt  (not  there)  but  in  the  bosom  of  His  Father, 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?     45 

So  you  and  I  can  do  likewise,  and  only  doing  so 
can  we  discover  the  path  '  the  vulture's  eye  hath  not 
seen'— the  path  of  wisdom.  'The  fear  of  the  Lord 
is  the  beginning  of  knowledge'  (and  of  sanity).  Con- 
tact with  the  Divine  is  essential  to  the  Christian  life, 
and  when  through  feeling  after  Him,  eventually  we 
find  Him  ("though  He  be  not  far  from  any  one  of 
us"),  the  first  touch  of  His  hand  in  the  dark  is 
never,  never  forgotten. 

Oh  what  power,  what  steadiness,  what  gentle- 
ness, what  sobriety,  what  self-control  flows  into 
my  life,  when  I  feel  God  has  gripped  my  hand, 
and  I  have  touched  His  !  God  is  so  great,  and 
we  are  so  little,  that  when  we  reach  this  shelter  it 
is  like  a  small  rowing  boat,  which  has  been  tossing 
in  the  water,  running  for  shelter  to  the  lee  side  of  a 
mighty  man-of-war  where  all  the  water  lies  calm 
and  still.     Here  is  perfect  sanity. 

Only  I  must  insist  that  God  must  be  nearer  to  me 
than  Christians,  that  is.  He  must  be  between  me  and 
them.  Not  that  they  are  enemies,  but  God  must  be 
nearest.  There  are  Christians  and  Christians,  but 
there  is  only  one  God,  and  He  is  my  Father,  and 
I  can  trust  Him.  But  I  cannot  and  must  not 
trust  Christians  as  such — for  there  are  many  insane 
Christians  and  erratic  spirits  of  ail  sorts.  With  God 
alone  I  am  safe ;  but  having  Him  nearest  and 
dearest,  I  can  love  all  the  family  and  soon  discern 
the  sober  members,  and  those  who  are  pleasing  my 
dear    Father ;   for    the    knowledge    of    God    gives 


46  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

wisdom  to  the  foolish  ;  and  one  who  would  be  sorely 
puzzled  to  decide  on  the  sanity  of  certain  practices 
soon  comes  to  a  right  conclusion  when  he  lives 
where  Christ  lived. 

Listen  to  a  description  of  a  man  who  lives  with 
God.  Can  anything  be  more  sane  ?  "  When  a  man 
lives  with  God,  his  voice  shall  be  as  sweet  as  the 
murmur  of  the  brook,  and  the  rustle  of  the  corn. 
He  will  weave  no  longer  a  spotted  life  of  shreds 
and  patches  ;  but  he  will  live  with  a  Divine  unity. 
He  will  cease  from  what  is  base  and  frivolous  in 
his  life,  and  be  content  with  all  places,  and  any 
service  he  can  render.  He  will  calmly  front  the 
morrow  in  the  negligency  of  that  trust  which  carries 
God  with  it,  and  so  has  the  whole  future  in  the 
bottom  of  his  heart." 

It  is  quite  clear  that  this  is  a  far  higher  type  of 
sanity  than  is  considered  necessary  in  worldly 
affairs.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  repeat,  that  the 
operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  human  heart 
and  mind  is  favourable  to  the  development  of  a 
greater,  and  not  lesser,  soundness  of  mind,  from 
being  brought  into  contact  with  that  Divine 
wisdom  which  cometh  from  above. 

Again,  a  man  may  be  insane  in  many  of  his  acts 
as  a  Christian,  and  yet  perfectly  sane  in  his  worldly 
dealings.  We  must  distinguish  between  personal 
and  relative  insanity.  In  leading  a  forlorn  hope  or 
a  desperate  assault  men  often  act  as  insane  who 
are   quite    sober-minded    in    themselves.     And    at 


WHAT   IS   SANITY   IN   CHRISTIANITY?    47 

certain  crises  of  the  Church  of  God,  when  in  fierce  ^ 
combat,  similar  things  may  occur,  though  such  are  \ 
not  of  course  for  a  moment  to  be  defended,  for  ,' 
God  is  able  to  keep  men  sober  at  all  times ;  only 
we  must  distinguish  between  the  normal  and  the  ■ 
exceptional. 

Again,  we  must  allow  for  the  personal  factor.  St. 
James,  we  presume,  would  always  be  sober-minded, 
while  St.  Peter,  as  we  know,  acted  in  many  ways 
that  could  not  be  so  characterized  ;  and  so  did  St. 
Paul  at  Jerusalem. 

In  fact  we  come  back  to  the  point  which  we  have 
touched  on  already,  that  no  two  persons  can  agree 
on  the  limit  where  normal  religious  experience  and 
action  passes  into  the  abnormal  and  pathological. 
In  a  beautiful  passage  in  the  Phsedrus  of  Plato, 
Socrates  points  out  that  those  who  seek  God  are 
accounted  mad.  I  will  quote  it.  "  They  endeavour 
to  discover  of  themselves  the  nature  of  God,  and 
when  they  grasp  him  with  their  memory — being 
inspired  by  him — they  receive  from  him  their 
manners  and  pursuits,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for 

man    to    participate   of    God Anyone 

who  is  reminded  of  this  time  begins  to  recover 
his  wings,  and  having  recovered  them,  longs  to 
soar  aloft ;  but  being  unable  to  do  so,  looks  upward 
like  a  bird  (a  striking  and  pathetic  simile)  and 
despising  things  below,  is  deemed  affected  with 
madness.  When  they  see  any  resemblance  of  things 
there  (in  heaven)  they  are  amazed,  and  no  longer 


48  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

master  of  themselves  ;  (remembering)  when  they 
beheld  in  the  pure  light — perfect,  simple,  calm, 
and  blessed  visions." 

Does  not  this  heathen  philosopher  approach  in 
thought  very  nearly  to  St.  Paul  when  he  says  (2 
Cor.  V.  13)  "For  whether  we  be  beside  ourselves 
it  is  to  God  ?  " 

In  the  same  way  the  feelings  and  practises  of  the 
higher  phases  of  Christian  life  often  seem  very 
strange  not  only  to  men  of  the  world,  but  to  the 
average  Christian  man.  He  cannot  understand  this 
"  agonizing  in  prayer,"  this  "  realization  of  God," 
this  "  transport  of  joy,"  and  these  "  visions  of  glory." 
Enough  for  him  to  be  on  the  road  to  heaven,  com.- 
fortably  and  quietly  as  may  be.  We  must  therefore 
make  full  allowances  for  much  with  which  we  our- 
selves may  not  quite  sympathize,  or  perhaps  wholly 
understand. 

And  Christianity  must  be  alive  or  it  is  nothing. 
There  must  be  a  fire  in  the  core  of  every  vital 
religion  or  it  becomes  a  mere  cinder. 

I  have  pointed  out  one  great  means  of  judging 
and  estimating  Christian  sanity  in  others,  by  being 
personally  in  contact  with  God.  I  will  conclude  by 
alluding  to  a  second  means — a  close  study  of  His 
Word. 

A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  limits  the  Bible 
marks  out  for  Christian  conduct,  a  careful  study  of  the 
practice  of  the  Apostle  in  missionary  and  other 
meetings  in  the  Acts,  and  of  the  rules  the  Bible  lays 


WHAT   IS   SANITY    IN    CHRISTIANITY?      49 

down  in  the  Epistles  for  the  guidance  of  gifts  in  the 
Church,  together  with  a  thoughtful  and  prayerful 
examination  of  the  various  passages  I  have  quoted 
in  the  last  chapter,  will  give  abundant  material  on 
which  to  form  a  sound  and  reliable  judgment  on 
any  phase  of  Christian  movement  that  may  be  in 
question. 

Christian  judgment  and  action,  however,  become 
paralyzed  if  we  admit  that  the  modern  progress 
of  thought  and  life  in  the  twentieth  century  forbids 
any  criticism  based  on  rules  framed  in  the  first ;  in 
short  that  the  Bible  is  not  a  sufficient  guide  to-day, 
and  that  by  it  the  "  man  of  God  "  cannot  be  perfect, 
nor  can  he  be  "thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works."     (See  2  Tim.  iii.  17). 

Those  who  fail  to  judge  righteous  judgment  re-  / 
specting  extravagances  and  insanities  practised  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  generally  do  so  from  one  of  two 
reasons.  They  either  take  the  ground  that  Scripture 
does  not  give  enough  instruction  upon  which  to 
form  a  judgment  at  the  present  day,  or,  admitting 
the  Scriptures  are  sufficient,  they  fail  to  study  them. 
The  latter  class  are,  I  judge,  almost  as  numerous  as 
the  former,  for  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures  is  a 
feature  of  the  present  day  quite  as  much  as  a  dis- 
belief in  them.  Of  course  the  two  constantly  go 
together. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Sanity  in  Childhood  and  Youth. 

I    PROPOSE    in   this    chapter  to    consider   our 
subject    first    of    all    somewhat    generally    in 
relation    to    childhood    and  youth,  and   then 
with  special  regard  to  the  religious  history  and 
experience  at  that  time. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  young  childhood  is  a 
period  of  intense  sanity,  while  youth  is  a  time  of 
unrest  and  instability. 

The  sanity  which  is  expressed  in  an  infant's  eyes  is 
often  appalling  to  a  frivolous  mind,  and  almost  equals 
the  calm  reproach  of  anything  foolish  in  the  liquid 
eyes  of  a  collie.  One  direction  in  which  the  baby 
shows  its  sanity  as  well  as  its  lofty  origin — bearing 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  Wordsworth's  beautiful 
conception — is  in  its  startling  sense  of  justice.  It 
will  have  justice  to  itself  and  justice  in  the  nursery, 
and  is,  at  a  year  old,  often  a  calm  arbiter  of  right  and 
wrong. 

For  a  young  child   seems,  as  Wordsworth   says, 

to  be 

"  Trailing  clouds  of  glory," 

and    to    retain    distinct     traces    of     its     heavenly 
home    in    its   innate    sense    of    love    and    justice, 

50 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD    AND   YOUTH     51 

which  are  surely  a  reflection  of  the  Love  and  Light 
which  are  the  two  sides  of  the  Divine  character 
as  revealed  to  us. 

I  want  to  dwell  a  little  on  the  absolute  sanity 
of  a  normal  infant.  No  nonsense  there,  no 
trifling  with  truth,  or  indeed  with  anything  else  ;  all 
is  seen  in  the  calm  white  light  of  pure  reason. 
Every  fresh  article  submitted  to  the  infant  judge  is 
quietly  surveyed,  turned  over,  perhaps  solemnly 
tasted,  before  a  decision  is  arrived  at  by  the  aid  of 
these  three  special  senses.  The  whole  process  is 
impressive  in  its  sanity.  But  by  degrees  as  the  baby 
degenerates  into  the  child,  it  becomes  more  and  more 
earthly  and  less  heavenly  (that  is,  if  it  is  going  to 
live),  and  above  all  less  serenely  sane.  This  deteri- 
orating process  of  accommodating  its  lofty  ideas  to 
its  earthly  environment  goes  on  until  at  last  the 
carnal,  full-blown,  but  somewhat  mad  product  is 
arrived  at,  in  the  shape  of  the  British  schoolboy  or 
girl. 

No  doubt  children  seem  mad  and  wild  in  relation 
to  the  unapproachable  calm  of  infancy — but  they  are 
very  sane,  terribly  sane  often  in  relation  to  "  grown- 
ups !  "  There  is  still  in  the  sanity,  simplicity,  and 
purity  of  the  child  much  that  awes  the  careless  adult, 
and  bad  men  especially  are  ill  at  ease  with  children  as 
well  as  with  wise  dogs,  because  both  see  through 
them. 

Then  comes  the  great  disturbance  of  puberty,  when 
the  sex  problem  first  looms  on  the  horizon,  but  is 


52  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

not  as  yet  by  any  means  understood.  Sanity  now  is 
no  longer  conspicuous,  the  whole  cerebral  system  is 
developing  so  rapidly  that  it  is  in  a  state  of  very 
unstable  equilibrium,  and  all  sorts  of  fads  and  fancies 
and  vagaries  flourish  ;  new  ideas  take  root  and  sprout 
with  alarming  rapidity.  All  this,  as  we  shall  see, 
means  much  when  we  come  to  consider  Christianity 
in  youth. 

The  bearing  of  this  time  on  the  future  of  the 
subsequent  man  or  woman  cannot  be  sufficiently 
estimated.  If  the  five  words  of  Scripture  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  sanity,  sound-mindedness,  sobriety, 
self-control  and  gentleness,  are  engrafted  into  the 
character  of  a  child  at  this  age,  there  cannot  be  much 
fear  for  his  religious  future. 

But  if  this  critical  time  be  missed  he  may  be 
unstable  all  his  life. 

"  Self-reverence,  self-knowledge,  self-control. 
These  three  alone  lead  life  to  sovereign  power," 

Tennyson  truly  says  in  his  CEnone  ;  and  child- 
hood is  the  time  when  these  virtues  can  be  best 
acquired,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  much  of 
the  present  instability  of  Christian  character  would 
never  have  been  seen  had  children  been  so  trained. 
But  child  training  and  above  all  real  Christian  home 
training  has  well  nigh  ceased,  and  hence  the  disas- 
trous results.  Listen  to  Professor  Felkin  who  says, 
"  We  are  producing  in  this  country  at  the  present 
day  a  race  of  self-willed,  self-centered,  self-conceited 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH     53 

young  people,  devoid  of  respect  for  God  or  man  or 
devil  !  Obedience  and  self-restraint  are  prime  factors 
in  a  healthy  existence  and  must  be  learned  early.'' 
*'  There  never  were  such  children  in  England  before. 
For  while  much  is  improved  in  physique  and  stature, 
especially  in  girls,  there  is  a  still  more  marked  change 
for  the  worse  in  their  attitude  towards  God." 

The  doubts  of  the  authority  of  the  Bible  sown 
broadcast  by  the  Higher  Critics  have  resulted  in  a 
crop  of  evils  that  many  of  the  sowers  would  be  the 
first  to  regret.  The  decline  and  practical  abolition 
of  family  prayer  is  largely  due  to  this  teaching.  That 
shrine  known  as  the  "family  altar"  has  been  cast 
down,  and  the  young  people  of  to-day  too  often 
have  the  sobriety  and  reverence  and  the  self-control 
that  the  early  study  of  the  Bible  teaches,  and  wise 
religious  instruction  imparts,  replaced  by  the  quali- 
ties of  which  Professor  Felkin  speaks — self-will,  self- 
indulgence,  and  self-conceit — poor  substitutes  indeed ! 

These  do  not  afford  much  foundation  on  which  to 
build  a  stable  character.  What  can  parents  do  to 
alter  this  ?  What  can  they  do  to  strengthen  and 
fortify  their  children  in  their  conflict  with  evil  ?  I  may 
very  briefly  enumerate  twelve  things  they  can  do;  to 
which  my  readers  doubtless  can  add  many  more. 

1.  They  can  control  the  child's  surroundings  so  as 
to  make  them  ever  the  medium  of  good  suggestions, 
physical,  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual. 

2.  They  can  by  example  and  story  fill  the  child's 
mind  with  inspiring,  lofty,  and  Christian  ideals. 


54  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

3.  They  can  form  habits  of  moral  and  religious 
value,  and  allow  none  others  to  be  acquired. 

4.  They  can  feed  the  child's  mind  with  ideas,  the 
character  of  which  they  can  wholly  control. 

5.  They  can  exercise  and  strengthen  the  child's 
moral  powers  by  circumstances  which  they  can 
arrange,  taking  care  that  the  trial  is  not  too  hard. 

6.  They  can  by  watching  hereditary  tendencies 
foster  one  and  restrain  another,  so  as  to  produce  a 
more  even  character. 

7.  They  can  strengthen  the  will  and  make  it  act 
with  energy  and  decision. 

8.  They  can  educate  and  train  the  moral  sense  ; 
keeping  it  sensitive  and  tender  to  evil,  and  must  only 
set  up  such  standards  of  right  and  wrong  that 
are  true  and  will  last  through  life ;  so  that  no  arti- 
ficial conscience  is  created. 

g.  They  can  increase  the  sense  of  moral  responsi- 
bility to  oneself,  to  others,  and  to  God, 

10.  They  can  directly  teach  moral  principles,  and 
the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect. 

11.  They  can  inspire  faith  in  God  and  in  Christ, 
and  the  spirit  of  reverence  and  humility. 

12.  They  can  thus  obey  the  two  exhortations 
*'  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,"  and 
"  Offend  not  one  of  these  little  ones." 

There  is,  of  course,  another  side  to  a  child  than 
that  of  which  I  have  spoken.  For  instance,  there  is 
in  many  a  distinct  vein  of  cruelty,  or  a  disregard  for 
truth.  These  both  can  be  made  to  disappear  by 
sound  training. 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD   AND  YOUTH      55 

One  has,  however,  only  to  allude  to  these  sub- 
jects to  feel  how  entirely  child-training  is  neglected  ; 
and  it  is,  I  repeat,  this  neglect  which  is  answerable 
for  much  of  the  instability  and  gullibility  of  Christians 
in  matters  specially  pertaining  to  religion. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  period  when  the 
child  changes  into  the  budding  man  or  woman  is 
the  time  when  altruism,  the  social  instincts  of  the 
religious  feeling,  sets  in.  The  child's  interest  is  all 
in  the  central  "  ego."  Its  feelings  and  ideas  are  truly 
nearly  all  objective,  there  is  no  introspection  ;  but 
nevertheless  the  child  in  its  life  and  actions  is  self- 
centred  and  selfish.  As  a  youth  this  gives  way  to 
the  feelings  I  have  just  described. 

It  must  be  remembered  too  that  youth  is  a  period 
when  all  the  faculties  are  ill-balanced  owing  to 
rapid  growth,  when  the  emotional  system  especially 
is  easily  and  often  disastrously  aroused,  when  all 
sorts  of  disordered  nerves  abound.  It  is  indeed  rare 
and  difficult  to  get  through  this  period  into  calmer 
waters  without  a  crisis  of  some  sort. 

It  is  very  doubtful  wisdom  to  induce  extreme 
spiritual  activity  at  this  age.  The  ethical  instincts  or 
conscience,  the  sesthetic  or  emotional  feelings,  and 
the  intellectual  and  moral  centres  are  all  extremely 
active  in  themselves,  and  need  guiding  rather  than 
stimulating.  It  is  of  course  supremely  difficult  to 
ensure  that  all  the  best  objective  and  subjective 
influences  are  brought  to  bear  upon  any  individual 
in  youth  ;  and  hardly  a  week  passes  in  my  consulting 


56  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

rooms  but  some  mother,  in  tears,  is  asking  herself 
the  question  Has  she  succeeded  in  this  ?  as  she 
brings  some  child  wrecked  in  nerves  or  mind. 

Even  without  "  conversions  "  religious  childhoods 
are  quite  common,  and  it  is  certainly  well  not  to 
force  the  young  growing  plant,  and  to  keep  children 
from  all  premature  discussion  of  dogmas. 

It  seems  indeed  that  the  children  of  some 
Christian  parents  are  treated  like  young  and  tender 
plants  and  are  placed  in  religious  hot-houses,  and 
forced  artificially  to  blossom  and  bear  fruit  long 
before  their  time.  Such  plants,  too,  are  weak  and 
sickly,  and  once  the  protection  of  the  greenhouse  is 
taken  away  the  first  rough  wind  snaps  them  off 
short ;  and  at  the  age  when  they  should  be  at  their 
strongest  they  are  already  fading. 

That  growth  is  best  which  is  most  natural,  where 
the  child  has  the  full  enjoyment  of  its  childhood, 
and  the  youth  of  its  youth,  tempered  and  sobered 
everywhere  by  the  loving,  gentle,  spiritual  atmo- 
sphere of  true  and  quiet  Christianity.  Such  children 
will  not  be  show  children,  but  will  be  far  more 
likely  to  make  sane  Christians  than  the  former  class. 

We  shall  understand  more  about  this  if  we  turn 
to  the  religious  history  of  the  young. 

First  of  all  as  to  the  fact  of  "  conversion."  That 
these  sudden  awakenings  occur  even  in  children, 
coupled  with  entrance  into  higher  spiritual  life,  none 
who  can  be  convinced  by  evidence  can  deny.  That 
innumerable  spurious  cases  occur  is  also  true  ;  and 


SANITY   IN  CHILDHOOD   AND  YOUTH      57 

likewise  that  many  of  the  greatest  saints  on  earth 
never  experienced  such  a  crisis  at  all.  To  some 
people,  of  course,  all  sudden  conversion  seems 
incompatible  with  full  sanity.  Professor  Sidis,  for 
instance,  considers  that  sudden  conversions  are 
phenomena  of  "revival"  insanity,  as  it  is  termed 
in  America,  or  of  religious  insanity,  as  it  would  be 
called  here.  We  believe  this  verdict  is  passed 
incorrectly  because  the  Professor  fails  to  take  into 
account,  or  does  not  believe  in  the  supernatural  side 
of  the  process.  It  is  not  of  course  an  ordinarily 
sane  process,  suddenly  in  a  moment  to  change  all 
one's  ideas  and  views.  It  is  only  when  we  admit 
that  the  new  birth  is  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  this 
Spirit  is  not  a  part  of  our  spirit,*  but  is  Divine  and 
is  God  and  Omnipotent,  that  we  can  reasonably 
understand  that  He  who  by  His  almighty  Word 
said  in  the  beginning  "Let  there  be  (physical)  light" 
and  "  there  was  light,"  can  say  now  to  the  soul 
"Let  there  be  (spiritual)  light,"  and  it  is  so.  Leave 
God  out  and  much  that  is  Christian  is  insane ;  but 
then  that's  just  what  I  shall  not  do  in  this  book, 
and  I  therefore  conclude  that  conversions  occurring 
even  in  the  young  are  not  the  slightest  proof  of  want 
of  mental  balance. 

Of  course   I  do   not  say  for  a  moment  that  all 

*  In  view  of  much  that  is  now  current  I  may  shew  that  this, 
at  any  rate,  is  the  Bible  teaching.  "  The  Spirit  itself  beareth 
witness  with  our  spirit"  (Rom.  viii.  16),  and  "Strengthened 
with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  inner  man, "  both  shew  that  our 
spirit  is  distinct  from  the  Holy  Spirit. 


SS  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Christianity  is  taught  or  revealed  at  once  to  any 
man.  It  is  only  the  "  entrance  into  life "  of 
which  I  speak. 

As  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  in  his  wonderful  poem  on  St. 
Paul,  says  : — 

"  Let  no  man  think  that  sudden,  in  a  moment, 
All  is  accomplished,  and  the  work  is  done. 
Though  with  thine  earliest  dawn  though  did'st  begin  it, 
Scarce  were  it  ended  in  thy  setting  sun." 

Turning  to  conversions  I  will  give  a  few  interest- 
ing  and    well-tested    statistics    collected    by    Dr. 
Starbuck,  as   exhibiting  the  actual    experiences  in 
ordinary  Christian  life. 
Out  of  1,000  Christians 

6g5,  or  nearly  |  were  converted  under  20. 
208,  or  I  were  converted  between  20  and  30. 


69 

19 
6 

2 

I 


30  and  40. 
40  and  50. 
50  and  60. 
60  and  70. 
70  and  75. 


1000 

This  shows  that  if  conversions  are  not  to  take 
place  amongst  young  people  three-fourths  of  the 
present  Christians  would  not  be  Christians  at  all. 

As  we  look  more  closely  at  these  figures  we  shall 
see  how  remarkably  the  spiritual  unfolding  co- 
incides with  material  changes.     Indeed  conversions 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD   AND  YOUTH     59 

follow  puberty  with  a  little  interval,  so  regularly 
that  it  seems  as  if  the  one  were  connected  with  the 
other.  Amongst  girls  the  awakening  or  arousing  to 
a  sense  of  need  of  salvation  and  of  entrance  into  a 
higher  life,  in  fact  the  real  opening  of  the  mind  to 
spiritual  realities  takes  place  mainly  from  10-16, 
amongst  boys  14-T6 ;  and  this  awakening  takes 
place  as  a  rule  a  year  before  conversion. 

Conversions  amongst  girls  are  as  follows  : — For 
every  40  at  sixteen  we  get  36  at  thirteen,  and  12  at 
twenty,  and  5  at  nine  and  twenty-four.  That  is  to 
say  conversions  at  16  are  more  numerous  than  at 
13  and  three  times  as  numerous  as  at  20.  They  are 
also  eight  times  as  numerous  at  16,  as  at  9  or  24. 
In  other  words  the  age  of  most  conversions  is 
undoubtedly  that  of  fully-developed  puberty. 

Amongst  boys  for  40  cases  at  sixteen  we  get  13 
cases  at  thirteen  or  twenty,  and  4  cases  at  nine  and 
twenty-four,  and  conversions  are  rare  after  thirty. 

Here  again  the  dawning  manhood  is  the  period 
for  conversions  ;  these  being  three  times  as  numerous 
then  as  they  are  four  years  sooner  or  later,  and  ten 
times  as  numerous  as  eight  years  sooner  or  later ; 
while  at  double  the  age  they  hardly  occur  at  all. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  most 
common  time  for  conversions  is  16  or  thereabouts : 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  period  chosen 
for  confirmation  has  some  connection  with  this. 

Spontaneous  awakenings  and  conversions,  that  is 
apart  from  external  agencies,  are  most  common  at  15. 


6o  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

In  conversion  the  influence  of  the  home  life  is 
more  marked  in  boys  than  girls  ;  though  in  girls  also 
home  influence  is  the  most  common  cause.  Next 
to  home  the  influence  of  friends  is  the  greatest 
cause,  and  next  to  that  the  Church  or  ministry. 
Girls  suffer  in  the  deep  effect  on  their  emotions,  more 
at  the  time  than  young  men.  Of  course  in  all 
statistics  and  in  all  religious  education  the  needs  and 
conditions  of  each  personality  must  be  taken  into 
account.  I  can  only  give  the  general  result,  which 
must  not  be  too  closely  pressed,  for  we  have  many 
**  Samuels  "  and  not  a  few  "  Philippian  gaolers  "  :  so 
that  it  must  not  be  supposed  on  the  one  hand  that 
there  must  be  no  thought  of  God  till  one  is  i6  ;  nor 
on  the  other  that  there  is  no  hope  afterwards. 

Following  up  the  history  of  conversions,  we  find 
there  are  four  distinct  lines  of  subsequent  religious 
experience. 

1.  Smooth  progress  in  Christianity  into  spiritual 
manhood  with  no  relapse  or  breakdown. 

2.  A  temporary  apparent  extinguishing  of  religious 
faith  and  hope. 

3.  No  progress  after  conversion. 

4.  Conversion  at  adolesence  and  definite  sancti- 
fication  on  entering  a  still  higher  spiritual  life  in 
maturity. 

The  final  condition  varies  less  than  would  be  sup- 
posed in  these  four  cases ;  it  is  the  experience  by 
the  way  that  differs  the  most. 

Amongst  ordinary  true  conversions  the  relapse  is 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD   AND  YOUTH     6i 

only  about  5  per  cent. ;  but  about  one-half  become 
indifferent  and  the  spiritual  growth  seems  arrested. 

About  one  quarter  have  severe  fights  with  old 
habits  which  reassert  their  power  in  a  varying  time 
after  conversion. 

As  many  as  three  quarters  of  the  whole  pass  at 
some  time  through  a  period  of  great  stress  and 
struggle  ;  while  about  one  half  experience  great 
doubts. 

The  essential  difference  from  a  human  point  of 
view  of  the  life  of  the  converted  and  that  of  the 
"  moral "  unconverted  appears  to  be  that  in  the 
former  its  virtues  are  more  positive,  in  the  latter 
they  are  more  negative  ;  in  fact,  in  Christians  it  is 
more  the  expression  of  a  new  life,  while  in  those 
who  make  no  such  profession,  in  the  sense  we  are 
now  using  the  word,  but  are  strictly  moral,  it  is  rather 
the  repression  of  the  old ;  though,  of  course,  not 
exclusively  so. 

On  the  whole,  amongst  the  converted  there  are 
some  who  pay  less  attention  to  conduct  than  some 
unconverted.  But  the  unconverted  pay  much  less 
attention  to  Christ.  Of  course  I  do  not  for  a  moment 
defend  the  former  attitude.  I  only  state  what  is 
arrived  at  from  the  careful  study  of  a  large  number 
of  lives. 

After  conversion,  as  I  have  said,  the  spiritual 
attitude  of  soul  is  really  permanent  in  all  but  5  per 
cent.,  but  the  feelings  fluctuate,  and  the  experiences 
widely  differ.  It  is  important  to  remark  here,  to  avoid 


62  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

grave  misunderstanding,  that  the  statistics  I  have 
presented  are  taken  from  the  experience  of  average 
Christian  men  and  women  attending  church  and 
chapel.  They  represent  the  present  condition  of 
things  fairly  well  ;  which  in  many  respects  is  very  far 
from  what  it  should  be. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  for  instance,  that  in  truly 
Christian  families  the  children  should  grow  up  from 
their  earliest  years  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord ;  and  such  a  thing  as  conversion  should  be 
rare. 

A  great  evil  is  done  to  children  ot  Christian 
parents  in  treating  them  as  hardened  sinners  and 
expecting  sudden  repentance  and  conversion.  To 
me  such  a  result  would  be  rather  a  sign  that  their 
early  training  had  failed,  than  that  it  had  succeeded  ! 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  simple  presenta- 
tion of  Christ  to  the  young  soul  as  Saviour,  Shep- 
herd, Friend,  is  not  only  attended  with  the  best 
results  ;  but  what  is  of  importance  to  our  subject, 
is  never  attended  with  evil  ones. 

And  this  brings  me  to  my  other  point,  and  that  is 
children  who  have  not  such  Christian  homes,  but 
who  are  under  definite  simple  Christian  teaching, 
such  as  is  obtained  at  the  many  Christian  Orphan 
Homes,  are  constantly  brought  to  Christ  long  before 
puberty. 

I  repeat,  therefore,  that  the  figures  I  have  given 
are  only  of  value  if  it  is  clearly  understood  that  they 
represent  in  no  way  the  best  possible  results,  but 


SANITY   IN  CHILDHOOD   AND  YOUTH     63 

merely  those  actually  attained  in  average  Christian 
life  of  all  sorts. 

To  go  a  little  more  into  the  period  of  doubt  and 
distress.  Two-thirds  of  Christians  as  a  whole  have 
distinct  times  of  doubt  as  follows  :  four-fifths  of  the 
men  and  half  the  women.  The  difference  of  the 
causes  in  the  sexes  is  of  great  interest.  Doubt  in 
women  is  more  emotional,  in  men  it  is  connected 
with  reason  and  the  intellect. 

The  greatest  source  of  doubt  in  men  arises  from 
the  books  they  read ;  in  women  it  generates 
spontaneously  in  the  mind,  or  from  some  influence 
they  are  under.  What  women  doubt  most  is  the 
existence  of  the  Christian  God ;  that  is,  a  God  who 
is  a  Father  and  who  cares  for  them.  What  men 
most  doubt  are  the  orthodox  beliefs  and  creeds  or 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  or  both.  During  the 
period  of  doubt,  ethics  and  good  deeds  of  all  sorts 
tend  to  take  the  place  of  active  religious  work. 

Besides  doubt,  which  does  not  trouble  some 
natures,  a  period  of  religious  upset  from  different 
causes,  of  storm  and  stress,  of  anything  but  peace 
and  joy,  is  found  in  more  than  half  the  Christians 
whose  history  was  examined.  It  consisted  of  an 
acute  sense  of  sin,  agonized  strivings  for  entire 
sanctification,  fear  of  eternal  punishment,  with  loss 
of  peace  with  God,  brooding  and  self-introspection, 
and  also,  of  course,  various  difficulties  and  fears.  I 
must  point  out  here  that  deep  and  painful  work  in 
the  soul  and  the  wrestling  with  trials  and  difficulties 


64  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

(though  not  necessary  with  doubts)  is  often  conducive 
to  strong  life  afterwards.  A  butterfly  has  great 
difficulty  in  emerging  from  the  crysalis  with  its  delicate 
wings  that  look  as  if  they  would  be  torn  to  pieces.  A 
friend  of  mine  pitied  one  so  much  that  she  aided  it, 
and  got  it  out  without  effort  ;  but  the  butterfly  never 
flew  :  and  she  learnt  that  the  struggle  was  essential 
to  the  delicate  circulation  in  the  wings,  and  was 
necessary  for  subsequent  flight. 

Of  the  seventy  per  cent,  of  these  Christians  who 
suffered  from  some  form  of  severe  religious  trouble 
it  was  found  that  only  twenty-two  per  cent,  were 
engaged  in  active  religious  work,  which  rather 
suggests  that  this  is  a  good  and  safe  antidote 
to  these  soul  disturbances. 

In  adolescence,  &c.,  the  greatest  care  and  delicacy 
is  needed  to  help  and  guide  the  soul  through  such 
troubled  waters  into  peace  and  harmony — which  is 
sanity. 

Much  of  the  storm  and  stress  that  often  accom- 
panies the  time  of  conversion  find  their  parallel  in 
the  pangs  which  accompany  birth.  In  merely 
mental  science  the  digesting  of  a  new  idea  is  often 
most  painful ;  it  is  therefore  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  these  Divine  mysteries  often  cause  great  trouble 
in  the  human  heart,  especially  when  we  consider  the 
emotional  age  at  which  they  usually  affect  it ;  to  say 
nothing  of  the  agitation  possibly  caused  by  the 
powers  of  darkness.  It  is  indeed  often  more  on 
the   religious  than  on   the   material   side   that  the 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD   AND  YOUTH      65 

dangers  of  adolescent  life  are  most  marked.  These 
latter  are  bad  enough,  and  we  know  how  many  of 
our  young  men  and  young  women  go  on  the  rocks 
at  this  time. 

I  may  remark  also  here  that  all  these  after  results 
are  not  presented  as  necessary  to  Christian  life,  but  as 
what  actually  occurs  in  the  average  Christian  of  the 
day.  With  better  and  more  careful  training,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  troubles  and  difficulties  could 
be  minimized,  and  the  proportion  of  backsliders 
greatly  lessened. 

I  may  say  that  not  only  the  brain  and 
emotions  are  very  unstable  in  youth,  but  that  it  is  a 
period  when  all  external  influences  are  most  active,  for 
good  or  evil.  How  important  is  it,  then,  that  these 
be  pure  and  spiritual  ? 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  all  nations  and 
amongst  all  religions  the  time  of  puberty  is  marked 
by  religious  rites,  sometimes  of  a  most  elaborate 
nature.  In  the  English  Church,  of  course,  this  rite 
is  called  confirmation ;  and  as  we  have  seen,  apart 
from  all  rites  and  ceremonies,  the  union  of  the  soul 
with  God  in  the  power  of  the  new  life,  in  the  new 
birth  by  the  Spirit,  occurs  constantly  also  at  this 
very  period. 

It  is  also,  alas  !  at  this  period  that  mental  balance 
is  so  often  lost  and  nerves  so  often  wrecked  through 
overpressure  from  religious  teaching,  or  too  close 
attendance  at  camp  meetings,  missions,  conventions, 
&c.     As  I  have  to  speak  of  these  in    considerable 


66  CHRiSTtAN    SANfTY 

detail  in  the  next  two  chapters,  I  will  not  say  more 
about  them  here. 

Another  feature  I  should  like  to  point  out  is  the 
greater  stability  of  the  Christianity,  and  the  greater 
after-freedom  from  storm  and  stress  among  those 
converted  through  the  ordinary  Christian  ministry 
as  compared  with  those  that  are  brought  in  through 
special  gatherings  for  the  purpose.  Of  course  the 
converts  are  more  numerous  at  these  latter,  but  they 
are  not  so  steady. 

One  important  point  that  must  be  faced  is  the 
fact  that  our  young  people  are  growing  up  more  and 
more  ignorant  of  the  Word  of  God  and  ever  less 
stable  in  their  faith,  and  less  able  to  resist  the 
attacks  of  the  devil,  or  to  discern  him  in  any  pseudo- 
Christian  movement,  where  he  may  masquerade 
as  an  angel  of  light. 

For  centuries  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  has 
been  the  glorious  distinction  of  this  country.  Now 
through  the  unhappy  wrangles  on  education,  and 
the  jealousy  of  the  contending  parties,  through  the 
general  atmosphere  of  doubt  thrown  over  the  Bible 
by  destructive  criticism,  through  the  apathy  of 
parents,  and  the  rush  and  pressure  of  modern  life, 
the  Bible  is  more  and  more  pushed  aside  and 
neglected. 

Knowing  this,  it  is  incumbent  on  all  clergymen  and 
teachers  and  instructors  of  the  young  to  do 
their  best  to  supply  the  lack  of  home  training  by 
classes  for  pure  Bible  study.     There  is  no  danger 


SANITY   IN   CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH     67 

in  these,  but  on  the  contrary  they  would  be  great 
safeguards  against  future  religious  troubles. 

It  is  the  unenlightened  and  the  ignorant  who, 
suddenly  brought  face  to  face  with  the  tremendous 
questions  of  eternity,  are  overwhelmed  and  un- 
balanced. 

I  would  therefore  suggest  for  children  the  simple 
stories  of  the  Bible,  and  particularly  of  the 
Gospels,  with  as  much  about  the  Person  of  Christ  as 
possible,  and  as  little  doctrine  as  is  needed  to  make 
the  story  intelligible  ;  and  then  when  the  age  of  10 
or  12  is  reached  more  careful  and  detailed  religious 
instruction,  combined  always  with  plain  and  strong 
ethical  teaching.  All  the  time  the  child  should 
take  a  personal  interest  in,  and  shew  appreciation  of 
these  great  truths,  and  a  real  acceptance  of  them 
should  be  evidenced  long  before  16  is  reached. 
Prayer,  too,  should  be  taught  with  the  utmost 
simplicity  and  reality,  and  the  immanence  of  God  (in 
the  true  sense)  in  all  His  works  everywhere  shown. 

The  exercises  of  the  young  soul,  even  with  the 
most  careful  training,  are  often  quite  severe,  when 
the  reality  of  the  Gospel  truths  dawn  upon  the 
mind ;  but  there  is  no  fear,  if  there  be  no  undue 
external  excitement  or  unhealthy  stimulus  or 
hereditary  want  of  balance,  of  these  exercises  doing 
anything  but  good  in  deepening  the  reality  of  the 
work  that  is  going  on.  They  should  therefore  on  no 
account  be  rashly  checked  for  the  fear  of  harm, 
and  the  child  thrown  back  upon  itself. 


68  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

What  one  can  do  at  such  a  time  is  to  get  the  child's 
confidence  in  loving  sympathy  and  so  relieve  it  of  half 
its  fears ;  while  at  the  same  time  one  should  see  that 
the  simple  material  needs,  of  good  and  sufficient  food, 
and  outdoor  exercises  and  games  are  not  neglected  in 
the  consideration  of  these  great  religious  truths. 

A  v^ise  and  loving  mother  who  is  capable  of  meeting 
the  spiritual  needs  of  her  children  is  a  veritable  gift 
of  God.  Such  a  mother  will  be  fully  alive  to  the  need 
of  guiding  with  double  care  a  neurotic  child  or  one 
convalescing  from  fever  or  from  influenza. 

There  is  great  encouragement  in  knowing  that 
once  this  critical  time  is  passed  and  the  young  soul 
well  anchored  in  Divine  love,  a  good  foundation  has 
been  laid  for  a  sound  and  useful  life,  and  the  whole 
being  has  been  brought  at  these  early  years  into 
harmony  with  its  Maker  and  itself. 

Early  Christianity  has  a  singularly  beautifying 
effect  upon  the  character,  which  in  its  humility  and 
reverence  is  as  far  removed  as  the  poles  from  the 
conceit  and  pride  of  some  who  are  alas,  the  subjects 
of  religious  emotion  rather  than  of  true  conversion. 

I  may  quote  here  one  specially  sobering  text  that 
was  hung  up  in  each  of  our  bedrooms,  when  I  formed 
one  of  a  large  circle  of  Christian  children,  for  it 
was  of  great  value  at  the  time.  "  If  any  have 
children  or  grandchildren  let  them  learn  first  to 
show  piety  first  towards  their  own  family,  and  to 
requite  their  parents  ;  for  this  is  acceptable  in  the 
sight  of  God."     (I  Tim.  v.  4). 


CHAPTER   V. 

Sanity  in  Revivalst  Conventions  and 
Missions. 

IN  this  and  the  next  chapter  I  intend  first  to 
describe  various  religious  movements  at 
different  times,  both  rational  and  irrational, 
with  the  utmost  possible  brevity ;  then  to 
turn  to  specially  consider  some  supposed  miraculous 
gifts  and  their  manifestations  to-day  ;  and  lastly 
to  carefully  examine  what  is  sane  and  insane  in 
these  matters,  and  in  some  way  seek  to  indicate 
if  possible  the  safeguards  that  may  be  relied  upon 
in  times  of  perplexity.  This  last,  however,  is  such 
a  wide  subject  that  it  will  require  still  another 
chapter  to  itself. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  both  of  the 
danger  and  difficulty  of  my  task,  and  I  feel  most 
strongly  the  extreme  care  that  is  needed. 

At  the  same  time  I  think  a  quiet  consideration  of 
the  subject  here  must  be  helpful  ;  and  I  shall 
endeavour  with  much  caution  and  with  all  possible 
care  to  give  what  little  assistance  I  am  able  to  afford 
to  many  who  are  greatly  perplexed. 


70  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Of  course  there  are  now,  as  always,  large  numbers 
of  people  who  have  never  even  heard  of  anything  out 
of  the  ordinary  taking  place  in  religious  life ;  but  I 
think  these  will  become  fewer  and  fewer  every  day. 
If  I  read  the  Bible  aright,  we  are  I  judge  as  yet 
only  at  the  "beginning  of  sorrows,"  and  not  only 
evil  men  but  seducing  spirits  will  wax  worse  and 
worse  as  time  goes  on  ;  and  at  all  times  it  is  well  for 
us  to  remember  that  in  our  own  wisdom  we  can 
never  expect  to  be  a  match  for  "  the  old  Serpent.  " 

Such  being  the  case,  let  us  to  our  task  and 
consider  first  some  historical  instances  of  religious 
movements  in  the  Church.  Nine  great  revivals  of 
religion  may  be  noted. 

The  first  lasted  from  the  twelfth  to  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 

The  second  was  that  of  the  Franciscan  and 
Dominican  Friars,  and  lasted  a  century. 

The  third  was  that  of  Wycliffe,  preceding  the 
Reformation. 

The  fourth  was  the  Reformation. 

The  fifth  was  the  Puritan  revival,  leaders  of 
which  founded  the  United  States  in  America  and 
the  Commonwealth  in  England. 

The  sixth  was  the  Quaker  revival. 

The  seventh  was  the  Wesleyan  movement,  in 
which  convulsions,  hysterics,  sobbing,  &c.,  occurred. 
These  features  were  very  marked  at  that  time  in 
North  Wales. 

The    eighth   was    the   general    revival    of    1859, 


SANITY   IN   REVIVALS  71 

beginning  in  America  in  1857.  This  was  of  great 
power  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  where  again  physical 
signs  abounded. 

The  ninth  was  the  Welsh  revival  of  1905,  associated 
with  Evan  Roberts. 

These,  one  and  all,  were  doubtless  manifestations 
of  the  power  of  God,  and  were  a  means  of  blessing  to 
many;  and  though  at  none  of  them,  all  that  was 
said  or  done  could  be  endorsed  as  sane,  the  general 
tendency  was  for  good.  Let  us  examine  the  one 
nearest  to  our  own  day — the  Welsh  revival — a  little 
more  closely. 

Everywhere  the  authorities  and  all  conditions  of 
men  in  Wales  have  freely  testified  to  the  real  and 
lasting  change  effected  in  the  lives  of  hardened 
sinners,  while  the  pastors  of  the  various  churches 
increased  their  membership  by  thousands. 

The  vast  congregations  were,  on  the  whole,  sober, 
sane  and  orderly.  This  last  may  be  questioned  in 
the  face  of  the  offering  of  many  prayers  simul- 
taneously, and  both  singing  and  prayer  going  on 
together  ;  but  even  to  clergyman  and  others  accus- 
tomed to  much  formality  all  was  conducted  with  such 
reality  and  reverence  that  it  was  not  accounted 
disorder.  Many  of  the  services  were  as  reverent 
in  the  Welsh  revival  as  those  under  the  dome  of 
St.  Paul's ;  though  in  some,  scenes  of  great  excite- 
ment were  witnessed  ;  indeed,  all  was  aflame  with  a 
vast  amount  of  religious  enthusiasm. 

Considering  the  character  of  the  Celtic  nature. 


72  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

there  was  little  that  was  wild,  violent,  hysterical ; 
but  everywhere  a  solemn  gladness  in  hundreds  of 
serious  men  and  thoughtful  women. 

There  was  no  leader.  The  last  person  to  attempt 
to  control  the  meeting  would  have  been  Evan 
Roberts.  There  was  no  pastor,  no  organ,  no 
hymn-books;  all  was  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
and  in  the  hands  and  ordering  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God. 

Remarkable  visions  were  seen  by  Mr.  Evan 
Roberts  himself.  Every  morning  for  three  or  four 
months,  before  the  movement  commenced,  though 
wide  awake,  he  passed  into  a  sort  of  trance  between 
I  and  5  a.m.,  and  found  himself  in  the  very  presence 
of  God. 

This  changed  his  thoughts  and  nature  and 
prepared  him  for  the  great  revival. 

Many  great  leaders  have  had  such  visions,  J. 
Boehme,  Madame  Guyon,  Loyola,  Fox,  St.  Teresa, 
St.  Catherine,  and  many  others.  It  was  not  Christ 
specially  who  was  before  the  soul  at  these  times,  but 
God  the  Father  or  the  Triune  God.  In  the  chapel 
Evan  Roberts  sometimes  saw  a  blinding  light.  This 
was  so  bright  that  he  could  not  see  the  minister  in 
the  pulpit.  This  reminds  us  of  the  visions  of  St. 
Paul,  Constantine,  Col.  Gardner,  &c. 

I  pass  over  some  of  the  painful  later  scenes, 
which  were  so  clearly  due  to  overwrought  nerves, 
that  they  excite  our  sympathy  rather  than  pur 
criticism. 


SANITY    IN   REVIVALS  73 

Evan  Roberts  lays  down  five  conditions  as  neces- 
sary for  what  he  terms  the  "  outpouring  "  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  : 

1.  Confession  of  all  known  sin. 

2.  The  forsaking  of  all  doubtful  things. 

3.  Implicit  obedience  to  the  Spirit. 

4.  The  Confession  of  Christ. 

Please  note  and  bear  in  mind  the  third  of  these 
requisites,  because  I  shall  have  a  good  deal  to  say 
upon  it,  and  it  is  here  that  unseemly  practises  creep 
in  and  much  error  arises. 

I  give  now  a  couple  of  isolated  cases  of  the  sudden 
manifestations  of  the  Spirit's  power  without  any 
breaches  of  decorum,  just  as  samples  of  hundreds 
such,  not  connected  with  general  revivals. 

In  1630  at  the  Kirk  o'  Shotts  in  Scotland  a  carriage 
containing  some  ladies  broke  down.  The  minister 
kept  them  at  the  manse  during  the  repair  of  the 
carriage.  They  were  so  pleased  with  his  care  that 
they  built  him  a  new  manse,  much  superior  to  the  old 
one,  and  invited  some  ministers  they  knew  to  the 
first  Communion,  which  was  celebrated  on  June  21st, 
after  the  house  was  completed  ;  and  one  of  the 
ministers  they  had  asked  preached  on  the  Monday, 
after  a  prayer-meeting  held  all  through  the  preceding 
Sunday  night,  and  500  were  converted  on  the  spot. 

In  July,  1861,  there  was  a  school  in  Yorkshire 
where  a  small  prayer-meeting  among  a  few  of  the 
boys  who  were  Christians  had  been  held  for  some 
time,     Suddenly  one  night  while  they  were  at  prayer 


74  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

there  came  upon  them,  with  the  suddenness  of  a 
thunder-shower,  a  spirit  of  intense  earnest  seeking 
after  God  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  for  consecra- 
tion. The  headmaster  was  told  of  what  was  going 
on,  and  stopped  all  the  preparation  classes  that  night 
so  that  the  boys  could  attend.  There  was  no  sing- 
ing, only  the  Bible  was  read,  and  there  were  brief 
exhortations,  confessions  of  sins,  and  requests  for 
prayer.  On  that  memorable  night  forty  boys  out  of 
a  total  of  fifty  were  "converted"  and  turned  to  God. 
"  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou 
hearest  the  voice  thereof,  but  knowest  not  whence 
it  Cometh  and  whither  it  goeth  ;  so  is  every  one  that 
is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

*  ***** 

Turning  now  to  Conventions  and  taking  Keswick 
as  a  type,  we  notice  that  as  a  rule  these  meetings  are 
particularly  sane.  There  is  no  excitement,  nor 
special  efforts  to  work  the  people  up  ;  all  is  done 
decently  and  in  order. 

At  Keswick  seven  stages  are  recognised  in  the 
teaching  according  to  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson. 

1.  Immediate  abandonment  of  every  known  sin, 
doubtful  indulgence,  or  conscious  hindrance  to  holy 
living. 

2.  The  surrender  of  the  will  and  whole  being  to 
Jesus  Christ,  in  loving  and  complete  obedience,  as 
not  only  Saviour  but  Master  and  Lord. 

3.  The  appropriation  in  faith  of  God's  presence 
and  power  for  holy  living. 


SANITY   IN    REVIVALS  75 

4.  The  voluntary  renunciation  and  mortifying  of 
the  self-life  that  centres  in  self-indulgence  and  self- 
dependence,  that  God  may  be  all-in-all. 

5.  Gracious  renewal  or  transformation  of  the 
inmost  temper  and  disposition. 

6.  Separation  unto  God  for  sanctification,  con- 
secration and  service. 

7.  Enduement  with  power  and  filling  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Amongst  these  seven,  note  specially  No.  2,  to 
which  we  shall  recur,  as  we  shall  to  No.  3  of  Evan 
Roberts'  quartette  ;  seeing  that  both  contain  an 
element  of  danger  that  requires  to  be  guarded  against 
most  carefully. 

Speaking  generally,  there  is  no  new  doctrine  taught 
officially  at  Keswick. 

I  say  "officially  "  because  one  must  acknowledge 
that  in  many  of  the  unauthorized  meetings  not  under 
the  guidance  of  the  Convention,  not  only  new  but 
very  strange  doctrines  are  annually  put  forth. 

Keswick  has  been  blessed  to  the  deepening  and 
strengthening  of  the  spiritual  life  in  thousands  of 
Christians,  and  in  increasing  the  efficacy  of 
thousands  of  the  clergy  and  ministers.  It  is  rem.ark- 
able  that  it  is  not  found  to  cause  either  dissensions  or 
divisions  in  churches,  but  is,  on  the  contrary,  in 
many  cases  a  most  happy  bond  of  union. 

Side  by  side  with  these  wonderful  and  helpful 
revivals  and  conventions  there  have  been  revivals  and 
missions  of  a  very  different  character. 


76  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

In  1374  there  was  a  dreadful  religious  dancing  mania 
which  began  at  Aix.  There  were  hundreds  of  danc- 
ing men  and  women  screaming  and  foaming  at  the 
mouth,  and  all  this  coupled  with  wonderful  visions 
of  Christ  and  the  Saints.  There  were  many  cases 
of  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind.  This  mania  spread 
all  over  that  part  of  Germany  like  wild  fire,  and  yet 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  multitudes  carried  away 
by  it  were  earnest  and  true  Christians. 

In  Italy,  at  another  time,  thousands  of  people 
were  suddenly  affected  with  the  literal  "  fear "  of 
God ;  and  persons  of  noble  and  ignoble  birth,  men 
and  women  and  even  children  five  years  old,  walked 
naked  in  public  two  and  two,  each  with  a  scourge  of 
leather  thongs,  and  lashed  themselves  on  their  bare 
backs,  with  tears  and  blood  accompanying  the  act. 
There  were  many  thousands  thus  all  over  Italy  crying 
to  God  for  mercy. 

In  1707  and  following  years  London  was  disturbed 
by  a  noisy  group  of  French  and  English  fanatics,  who 
combined  the  highest  religious  pretensions  and  the 
most  Scriptural  language  with  prophecies,  speaking 
in  tongues  which  were  accompanied  by  all  sorts  of 
contortions  and  by  many  immoralities.  The 
movement  began  by  three  French  Protestant 
refugees  coming  over  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne ; 
and  amongst  their  followers  were  Sir  Richard 
Bulkeley  a  wealthy  baronet,  a  prebendary  of  Salis- 
bury Cathedral,  several  physicians,  a  learned 
scientist,  the  tutor  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  Lady 


SANITY   IN   REVIVALS  77 

Jane  Forbes,  and  many  others.  These  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  deceivers,  but  earnest  Christian 
men  deceived  and  deluded  by  lying  spirits,  which 
they  firmly  believed  were  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

Coming  to  more  modern  times  I  will  touch  upon 
the  Irvingite  movement,  and  the  recent  outbreaks  of 
tongues  in  India  and  America  and  elsewhere.  I 
might  of  course  write  about  hundreds  of  such  out- 
breaks, for  they  abound  in  all  ages,  but  I  think  by 
taking  these  few  instances  their  general  character  will 
be  sufficiently  understood. 

I  give  first  a  condensed  extract  from  a  remarkable 
document  by  Mr.  Robert  Baxter  called  a  "  Narrative 
of  Facts,"  and  beg  for  its  careful  perusal.  The  story 
gains  much  additional  weight  when  the  reader 
realizes  that  in  Mr.  Robert  Baxter  one  has  to  do 
with  a  slow,  cautious,  and  somewhat  heavy  Scotch 
lawyer,  of  considerable  eminence  in  London  at  the 
Parliamentary  bar.  An  intimate  friend  of  mine  was 
his  personal  friend  for  twenty  years,  and  describes 
him  as  singularly  clear,  level-headed,  and  reliable 
in  every  way,  and  one  who  was  regarded  generally 
as  a  man  of  sound  and  solid  judgment  as  well  as 
being  a  highly-taught  Christian.  The  narrative  is 
in  his  own  words  : — 

"  Conceiving  as  I  did,  and  still  do,  that  there  is 
no  covenant  in  Scripture  for  limiting  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  Spirit  to  the  apostolic  times,  and  deeply 
sensible  of  the  growth  of  infidelity  ;  in  the  face  of 
the  prevalence  of  formality  and  lukewarmness  in  the 


78  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Church,  I  wag  ready  to  examine  the  claims  to 
inspiration,  and  even  anxious  for  the  presence  of  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit,  according  as  it  seemed  to  me  to 
that  apostoHc  command,  "  coYet  earnestly  the  best 
gifts;"  conscious  that  nothing  but  an  abundant  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  of  God  could  quicken  the 
Church  into  active  life ;  and  that  nothing  less  than 
the  power  of  God,  put  forth  in  testimony,  could 
stem  the  torrent  of  infidelity  which  was  flowing  in 
upon  us ;  I  longed  greatly  and  prayed  much  for 
such  an  outpouring  and  testimony. 

"  When  I  saw,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  that  those  who 
claimed  these  gifts  were  walking  honestly,  and  that 
the  power  manifested  in  them  was  evidently  super- 
natural ;  and  moreover  bore  testimony  to  Christ  come 
in  the  flesh,  I  welcomed  it  at  once  as  the  work  of 
God. 

"  In  the  midst  of  a  prayer-meeting  for  the  first 
time  I  was  myself  seized  upon  by  the  power,  and 
in  much  struggling  against  it  was  made  to  cry  out  (in 
a  loud  and  commanding  voice)  and  myself  give  forth 
a  confession  of  sin,  a  prophecy  that  the  messengers 
of  the  Lord  would  go  forth  and  publish  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth  ....  the  near  coming  of  the  Lord 
Jesus. 

**  I  was  overwhelmed  by  this  occurrence.  I  was 
distinctly  conscious  of  a  power  acting  in  me. 

"  In  private  prayer  one  day  I  was  much  distressed 
at  my  wandering  thoughts,  when  suddenly  the  power 
came  down  upon  me,  and  I  found  myself  lifted  up 


SANITY  IN   REVIVALS  79 

in  soul  to  God,  my  thoughts  were  riveted,  and 
calmness  of  mind  given  me. 

"  By  a  constraint  I  cannot  describe,  I  was  made 
to  speak,  at  the  same  time  shrinking  from  utterance. 
The  utterance  was  a  prayer  that  the  Lord  would  be- 
stow on  me  the  gifts  of  His  Spirit,  the  gift  of  wisdom, 
of  knowledge,  of  faith,  the  working  of  miracles,  the 
gifts  of  healing,  of  prophesy,  of  tongues,  and  that  he 
would  open  my  mouth  to  declare  His  glory.  This 
prayer  was  forced  from  me  by  the  constraint  of  the 
power  which  acted  upon  me  :  and  the  utterance  was 
so  loud  that  I  put  my  handkerchief  to  my  mouth  to 
stop  the  sound  that  I  might  not  alarm  the  house. 
When  I  had  reached  the  last  word  the  power  died 
off  me,  and  left  me  filled  with  amazement,  and  with 
a  strong  conviction,  '  This  is  the  Spirit  of  God.' 

"  I  must  testify  that  looking  back  upon  all  that  is 
past  (now  I  know  it  is  of  the  devil)  whenever  the 
power  rested  on  me,  I  seemed  to  have  joy  and 
peace  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  I  cannot  even  now, 
by  feeling  alone,  discern  that  it  was  not  really  such ! 

"  At  a  meeting  while  the  pastor  was  speaking 
the  power  fell  upon  me  and  I  was  made  to  speak 
(in  a  loud  voice),  and  for  two  hours  or  upwards  I  gave 
forth  prophecies  concerning  the  church  ;  declaring  its 
present  state  and  coming  glory,  and  the  return  of 
the  Lord.  I  had  no  excitement ;  to  myself  it  was 
calmness  and  peace.  The  words  flashed  into  my  mind 
without  forethought,  without  expectation,  without 
any  plan  or  arrangement ;  all  was  the  work  of  the 


8o  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

moment,  and  I  was  as  the  passive  instrument  of  the 
power  which  used  me. 

"  Mr.  Irving  said  he  had  doubts  as  to  allowing  me 
to  speak  in  his  church  ;  and  the  power  came  on  me, 
rebuking  him,  and  reasoning  with  him,  until  he  sat 
down  and  said  he  did  not  know  what  to  do.  Then 
the  power  came  on  Miss  H.,  who  said  he  must  not 
forbid  my  speaking.  This  satisfied  him,  and  he 
yielded  at  once. 

"  To  those  who  have  never  been  visited  with  any 
power  beyond  the  mere  vagaries  of  excitement  it 
may  seem  inexplicable  how  persons  can  be  brought 
to  surrender  their  own  judgment  and  act  upon 
impulse  without  daring  to  question  the  power.  But 
the  process  is  very  simple  and  perfectly  logical. 

"  Though  accustomed  to  try  the  power  of  my  own 
mind  in  public  and  in  private,  in  business  and  in 
religious  meetings,  in  reasoning  and  in  exposition,  I 
found,  in  a  sudden,  in  the  midst  of  my  accustomed 
course,  a  power  coming  upon  me  which  was  alto- 
gether new,  an  unnatural  and  in  many  cases  a  most 
appalling  utterance  given  to  me  with  great  clearness 
of  view  in  the  word  of  God,  great  freedom  in  prayer. 
It  was  manifest  to  me  the  power  was  supernatural  ; 
it  was  therefore  a  spirit.  It  seemed  to  me  to  bear 
testimony  to  Christ,  and  the  conclusion  was  inevit- 
able, that  it  was  the  Spirit  of  God. 

"The  mistake  is  awfal,  if  a  seducing  spirit  is 
entertained  as  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  more  devoted 
the    Christian    seduced,    the    more     implicit     the 


SANITY  IN   REVIVALS  8i 

obedience  ;  and  unless    God    graciously   interpose, 
there  can  be  no  deliverance. 

"  About  this  time  was  consummated  the  master- 
piece of  doctrinal  delusion  in  the  development  of 
the  "baptism  of  fire"  as  it  was  thenceforth 
expounded  by  me.  It  was  declared  "  in  utterance  " 
that  the  Lord  would  again  send  apostles,  by  the 
laying  on  of  whose  hands  should  follow  the  baptism 
of  fire,  which  should  subdue  the  flesh,  and  burn 
out  sin,  and  give  to  the  disciples  of  Christ  the  full 
freedom  of  the  Holy   Ghost,  and  final   victory  over 

the  world. 

"The  simultaneous  action  of  the  power  upon 
two  or  more  continually  occurred,  leading  them  to 
utter  the  same  words. 

"  In  the  midst  of  minds  duly  prepared,  Satan  can 
gradually  develop  the  subjects  of  his  delusion  ;  and 
going  on  step  by  step,  can  unwarily  lead  his  victims 
into  extravagancies,  first  by  doctrine  and  next  by 
conduct,  which  they  would,  without  such  gradual 
preparation,  shudder  to  contemplate. 

"  Some  amongst  us  were  found  to  be  speaking  by 
an  '  evil  spirit '  and  Mrs.  C.  and  Mrs.  E.  C.  had  been 
much  in  power  to  declare  it.  This  troubled  me 
greatly,  for  I  had  been  led  in  power  to  declare 
the  call  of  one  of  them  to  the  spiritual  ministry. 

"  I  treated,  however,  any  doubt  as  a  temptation,  I 
rested  implicitly  upon  the  text,  "  every  spirit  that 
confesseth  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God," 
and     felt     assured    that    no    spirit    making    that 

G 


82  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

confession  could  be  of  Satan.  I  had  heard  the 
confession  made  several  times  by  the  spirit  which 
spoke  in  myself  and  others.  I  ought  lo  have  seen  that 
the  mere  confession  in  words  is  not  of  itself  a  proof 
of  the  spirit  being  of  God,  and  searched  out  more 
fully  whether  the  spirit  did  really  set  forth  the  truth. 
"  At  this  time  Mr.  Irving's  views  became  known 
that  the  law  of  the  flesh  and  the  law  of  sin  was  in 
Jesus,  and  only  kept  down  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  In 
April,  1832,  Mr.  Irving  wrote  to  me  :  "  I  believe 
the  flesh  of  Christ  to  have  been  no  better  than  other 
flesh ;  but  he  received  such  a  measure  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  sufficed  to  resist  its  own  proclivity  to  the 
world  and  to  Satan  !  " 

"  I  then  called  on  Mr.  Irving  and  told  him  my  con- 
viction that  we  had  all  been  speaking  by  a  lying 
spirit  and  not  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  One  point  in 
these  manifestations  is  the  manifest  denouncement 
and  debasement  of  the  understanding.  It  is  true 
the  understanding  must  bow,  as  well  before  Divine 
mysteries  as  before  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  But  the  Apostle  exhorts  us,  be  not  children  in 
understanding,  but  in  understanding  be  men,  and 
prays  for  the  Ephesians,  "  the  eyes  of  your  under- 
standing being  enlightened,"  and  for  the  Colossians, 
"  In  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding,"  and 
for  Timothy  "  The  Lord  give  thee  understanding  in 
all  things."  It  is  manifest  that  the  grace  of  God  and 
the  teaching  of  the  spirit  of  God  purifies  and 
enlarges  the  understanding,  and  gives  us  to  discern 


SANITY  IN   REVIVALS  83 

by  the  understanding  between  truth  and  error. 
The  understanding  is  to  be  used  and  strengthened 
by  the  Word  and  the  Spirit,  and  the  man  of  God 
walks  according  to  an  enhghtened  understanding  in 
the  degree  of  Hght  God  gives  him.  Now  I  am 
assured  that  the  spirit,  manifested  in  us  all,  has 
always  striven  to  put  aside  the  understanding,  and 
bring  its  followers  into  absolute  submission  to  the 
utterances. 

"  Another  characteristic  to  which  I  would  allude  is 
the  spirit  of  separation  which   marks  out  a  line  by  j 
the  reception  or  rejection  of  these  utterances.     It  ' 
casts  off  the  great  mass  of  orthodox  professors  and 
raises    up   those  who   receive   the   utterances    into 
"the  Church." 

"  With  many  of  these  there  is,  however,  a  Christian 
spirit  and  a  sincere  love  of  the  truth.  They  are 
deceived  and  not  deceivers,  save  instrumentally. 
There  is  no  intentional  deceit  or  guilt  about  them  ; 
they  are  really  acted  upon  by  a  supernatural  power, 
and  they  worship  it  as  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Jehovah. 

The  text,  "  Every  spirit  which  confesseth  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God,"  is 
given  us  explicitly  as  the  test  whereby  to  try  the 
spirit,  and  it  must  therefore  be  decisive.  In  some 
the  spirit  was  not  permitted  to  confess  it,  even  verbally 
(as  in  Gloucestershire).  But  I  have  "under  power," 
declared  it,  and  so  has  my  brother. 

"  It  appears  that  a  mere  verbal  confession  is  not 
all  that  is  required;    for  the  devils  said,  "I  know 


84  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Thee  who  Thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God."     The 

confession  should  be  sought  on  any  points  which 
create  suspicion  as  to  soundness  of  faith. 

"  My  persuasion  concerning  the  ''unknown  tongue," 
as  it  is  called,  is  that  it  is  no  language  whatever,  but 
a  mere  collection  of  words  and  sentences,  and  is 
much  of  it  a  jargon  of  sounds. 

"  The  whole  work  is  a  mimicry  of  the  gifts  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  utterance,  the  tongues,  the  prophesy- 
ings,  and  all  the  other  works  of  "  the  power."  It 
is  Satan,  as  an  angel  of  light  imitating,  as  far  as 
permitted,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

"  It  has  been  most  fully  manifested  that  a  false 
spirit  does  bear  witness  against  Satan.  The  warn- 
ings against  Satan  were  very  abundant.  The  spirits 
are  '  lying  spirits,'  and  one  lie  will  be  ministered  to 
one  and  another  (the  opposite)  to  the  other." 

**  I  was  with  gifted  persons  in  London  who  all  gave 
the  same  testimony,  but  gifted  persons  in  Port 
Glasgow  spoke  against  me  and  others. 

"  To  those  who  have  never  experienced  or  witnessed 
the  effect  of  delusion  in  perverting  the  judgment 
and  shutting  the  eyes  of  the  understanding,  its 
workings  are  incredible.  I  have  found  in  myself 
such  woful  darkness,  and  such  credulity,  that 
when  I  think  of  it  I  am  almost  afraid  of  making  a 
statement,  or  advancing  an  opinion,  lest  I  should 
still  be  under  its  influence. 

"  One  circumstance  cannot  but  force  itself  upon 
observation  :  that  is,  the  continual  use  which  was 


SANITY   IN   REVIVALS  Ss 

made  of  the  doctrine  of  the  second  Advent  of  our  i 
Lord.  The  same  thing  has,  as  far  as  we  are  | 
informed,  attended  every  putting  forth  of  assumed 
prophetic  power  from  the  earhest  times.  With  the 
French  prophets  at  the  beginning  of  the  i8th  century, 
with  the  followers  of  Joanna  Southcote,  the  nearness 
of  the  second  Coming  has  been  the  leading  doctrine. 

"  At  the  first  advent  of  our  Lord  many  false 
Christs  came  and  drew  away  many.  We  are  also 
expressly  warned  with  reference  to  the  second 
Advent,  "  There  shall  come  false  Christs  and  false 
prophets,  and  shall  show  great  signs  and  wonders, 
insomuch  that  if  it  were  possible  they  shall  deceiYS 
the  very  elect." 

"  Long  after  I  gave  up  the  delusion,  "the  power" 
so  continued  with  me  that  I  was  obliged  to  resist  it 
continually." 

****** 

I  might  give  much  more,  but  this  will  suffice,  and 
with  it  I  will  close  this  chapter,  reserving  further 
considerations  of  revivals,  missions,  and  conventions 
to  the  next. 


CHAPTER  VL 

Sanity   in  Revivals,  Conventions  and 
Missions — continued. 

THE  remarkable  and  pathetic  narrative  by  a 
great    and   good    man    given    in    the    last 
chapter,  who  fell  into  the  snare  of  the  devil 
through    reasons     he     himself    afterwards 
clearly  discerned,  may  now  be  compared  and  con- 
trasted with  the   following  brief  account  of  how   a 
weak  woman,  the  well-known   Charlotte   Elizabeth, 
the  authoress,    was  assailed,  but  instead  of  falling 
under    the    Satanic    power,    how    remarkably    she 
escaped.     Her  action  is  full    of  instruction    in  the 
;  present  day,  and  if  only  her  course  of  procedure  were 
'  generally  followed,  there  would  be  little  need  of  this 
or  any  other  such  work  to  guard  and  guide  unwary 
souls. 

These  extracts  are  from  a  small  volume  called 
*'  Personal  Recollections  of  Charlotte  Elizabeth." 

"  The  first  thing  that  aroused  my  attention  to  the 
new  doctrines  of  Mr.  Irving  was  the  singular  case  of 
Miss  Fancourt.  Had  it  been  a  person  unknown  to 
me  I  might  have  thought  less  about   it,  but  I  knew 

86 


SANITY   IN  REVIVALS  87 

her  and  her  family;  and  I  was  and  am  perfectly 
certain  that  the  least  attempt  at  deception  was  never 
practised,  never  thought  of  by  them. 

A  sweet,  patient,  suffering  child  of  God,  guileless  as 
a  babe,  and  whose  bodily  affliction  had  moved  my 
tenderest  sympathy  as  I  sat  beside  her  couch  of  pain  ; 
the  intelligence  of  her  instantaneous  recovery,  of  her 
having  walked  from  her  father's  house  at  Hoxton  to 
that  of  myhospitable  friend  Mr.  Hawtry,  in  Hackney, 
and  back,  with  my  intimate  knowledge  alike  of  the 
localities  and  the  individuals  concerned,  came  upon 
me  with  a  reality  the  most  overwhelming  ;  I  certainly 
held  it  to  have  been  a  miraculous  answer  to  faithful 
prayer,  and  I  was  strongly  predisposed  to  receive 
whatever  might  be  placed  before  me  on  the  same 
basis. 

"  Just  then,  within  two  or  three  days  afterwards, 
a  lady  to  whom  I  looked  up  as  a  most  enlightened, 
zealous  Christian,  wrote  me  a  glowing  letter,  enclos- 
ing two  little  pamphlets,  or  rather  tracts,  on  the 
subject  of  miraculous  gifts  in  the  church,  as  set 
forth  in  the  14th  chapter  of  i  Corinthians,  which 
was  quoted  in  full.  She  also  gave  me  an  account  of 
the  "  tongues,"  and  exhorted  me  to  pray  for 
miraculous  gifts,  and  to  devote  my  pen  immediately 
and  wholly  to  this  great  cause.  She  added  that  her 
parents  were  violently  opposed,  but  she  hoped  to 
obtain  the  "  gifts  "  herself,  and  by  that  means  to 
silence  all. 

"  I  was   confounded.     I  read  the  tracts,  and  all 


88  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

the  Scriptures  pointed  out  in  them,  as  confirmatory 
of  the  view  taken,  and  which  certainly  made 
out  a  strong  case ;  but  I  felt,  too,  that  a 
reference  to  single  texts  would  not  suffice  ;  I  had 
always  read  the  Bible  as  a  continuous  book,  not  as  a 
collection  of  scraps. 

"Accordingly  I  that  night  took  the  New  Testament 

up,  kneeled,   and  fervently,   most  fervently   prayed 

to  be  guided  to  all  truth,  kept  from   presumptuous 

sin,   and  led  to  glorify  God    by    humbly  receiving 

what   He  was   pleased    to   reveal.       I    then    seated 

myself  on  the  side  of  my  bed,  and  read  the  whole  of 

the    New    Testament    from   the    first    chapter    of 

Matthew  to  the  Epistle  of  Jude,  and  the  first  seven 

I  chapters  of  the   Revelation,  finishing  that  book  on 

j  the  morrow.     The  result  was  such  as  to  make  me 

'  decidedly  reject  the  new  pretensions. 

**  I  cannot  go  over  the  subject  here,  it  would  be  a 
treatise  in  itself;  and  my  object  is  to  recommend  to 
you  and  others  the  same  process,  that  each  may  have 
his  own  convictions  based  on  the  Word  of  God,  and 
not  on  the  convictions  of  a  fellow  mortal.  I  was 
quite  sure  that  if  such  an  important  change  was  to 
take  place  in  the  character  of  the  dispensation,  and 
women  to  become  public  teachers  of  men,  I  should 
find  some  express  warrant  for  it,  since  God  would 
never  require  us  to  believe  a  miracle  not  wrought 
according  to  His  Word. 

"  I  found  that  signs  and  wonders  in  the  last 
days  were  the  predicted  marks  of  what  was  not  to 


SANITY   IN  REVIVALS  89 

be  received  or  followed,  and  I  began  to  regard  with 
jealous  suspicion  this  assumption  ;  resolved  to 
watch  most  narrowly  the  doctrines  he  (Mr.  Irving) 
might  preach.  Miss  Fancourt's  case  was  argued  at 
large  in  the  Record  newspaper,  and  I  soon  came  to  the 
conclusion,  from  which  I  have  not  swerved,  that  it 
was  one  of  nervous,  not  organic  disease  ;  and  while 
ascribing  all  glory  to  God  as  the  hearer  of  her  prayer 
and  healer  of  her  sickness,  I  believe  that  it  had  been 
accomplished  by  the  natural  operation,  mercifully 
ordered  by  Him,  of  a  natural  cause. 

"  In  this  state  of  mind  I  remained,  when  a  letter 
from  a  friend  in  Scotland  brought  me  some  account 
of  a  meeting  where  he  had  heard  Mr.  Irving  expound 
on  the  subject  of  our  adorable  Lord's  human  nature, 
and  which,  he  said,  perplexed  him.  He  stated  the 
outline,  slightly  ;  but  sufficiently  to  convince  me  that 
some  great  error  lay  beneath  the  surface,  and  this 
rendered  me  the  more  thankful  that  I  had  not  lightly 
admitted  the  claim  to  supernatural  powers,  which, 
once  acknowledged,  would  have  given  weight  to  any 
doctrine  associated  with  them. 

"  A  little  time  brought  me  better  acquainted  with 
the  nature  of  this  heresy.  .  .  .  He  maintained 
that  the  human  nature  in  which  our  Divine  Lord 
was  pleased  to  become  incarnate  was  not  only  the 
likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  but  flesh  inherently  sinful.  .  .  . 

"  I  was  far  from  denying  the  probability  of  super- 
natural agency,  for  the  doctrine  was  so  truly 
diabolical   that   Satan   might   be   likely  enough   to 


go  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

strengthen  it  with  such  signs  and  wonders  as  he  was 
permitted  to  show,  in  order  to  try  the  faith  of  God's 
people;  and  I  know  of  nothing  that  would  sooner 
put  me  on  my  guard  against  any  new  theory  than 
seeing  it  backed  by  seeming  miracles. 

"  That  Satan  can  work  miracles  there  is  no  doubt, 
and  that  he  will  yet  do  so  we  are  plainly  warned. 
He  seems  to  withhold  his  hand  now,  in  order  to 
conceal  the  fact  of  his  existence ;  but  there  will  be 
a  snare  provided  for  each  individual,  according  to 
his  natural  disposition,  and  the  most  devoutly 
disposed  are  just  those  who  have  need  to  watch  the 
most  carefully  against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high 
places." 


I  now  pass  on  to  some  manifestations  in  the  present 
day,  of  a  similar  character  to  those  seen  in 
Irvingism,  and  will  first  of  all  give  without  names 
some  extracts  from  a  correspondent  in  India  that 
will  perhaps  suffice  to  show  how  the  same  features 
are  reproduced,  and  succeed  in  carrying  away  un- 
doubtedly true-hearted  and  earnest  Christian  people 
now,  as  formerly. 

April,  1907.  "  I  believe  this  movement  to  be 
an  incipient  Agapemone,  and  the  dear  people 
entangled  are  just  where  Piggott  (the  Clapton 
*'  Messiah  ")  and  others  were  twenty-two  years  ago. 

"  For  three  days  and  nights  I  have  passed  through 
the  deepest  travail  of  soul  I  have  ever  known.     All 


SANITY   IN   REVIVALS  91 

the  spiritually-minded  men  in   South   India  whom 
we  are  in  touch  with  are  opposed  to  the  movement. 

"  We  were  told  God's  presence  was  manifested  at  a 
meeting  near,  and  would  we  come  over.    I  refused  on   | 
the  ground  they  were  teaching  what  was  contrary  ] 
to  Scripture, 

"  There  are  two  chief  points  in  the  awful  delusion 
that  is  now  working  here.  Satan  is  subtly  offering 
stones  to  hungry  souls,  and  they  believe  them  to  be 
bread.  Then  having  succeeded  in  getting  his 
stones  accepted  for  bread,  Satan  goes  on  to  say, 
*  Cast  thyself  down  ?  The  angels  have  charge 
over  thee.'  That  is,  '  give  over  the  control  of  your  ' 
personality.  Let  go !  Let  yourself  go  !  Lose  con- 
trol and  pass  out  of  the  condition  of  consciousness.' " 

I  need  scarcely  point  out  here  how  closely  this 
resembles  Mr.  Robert  Baxter's  awful  experience 
of  Irvingism  nearly  eighty  years  before. 

The  two  points  on  which  he  was  led  astray  were 
the  same  as  in  this  case.     First,  accepting  stones  ' 
as   bread — that  is  false  doctrines  as  the  Word  of 
God.     Second,  letting  himself  go  and  letting  "  the 
power"  master  him,  and  speak  through  him. 

The  similarity  of  the  methods  of  deception  is 
startling,  though  so  much  else  differs.     To  proceed  : 

"  Those  who  accept  this  condition  do  indeed  lose 
control  and  become  like  persons  insane,  or  in 
convulsions  or  hysterical,  and  in  this  condition 
shameful  things  happen. 

•*  St.  Paul  says:  '  I  keep  my  body  in  subjection,'  i.e., 


92  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

I  retain  my  rightful  rule  and  control  over  the  body 
'  lest  I  should  become  a  castaway.'  The  next  step 
naturally  follows,  and  the  soul  accepts  Satan  for 
God,  and  a  spirit  of  delusion  for  the  Spirit  of  God. 

"  Here  it  is  said  '  Speaking  with  tongues  is  the 
sole  evidencing  sign  that  one  has  received  the  true 
Pentecostal  Baptism '  !  They  also  say,  '  An 
essential  condition  is  the  renunciation  of  all  control 
over  the  bodily  movements,  &c. ' ! 

"  The  atmosphere  in  their  gatherings  is  most 
peculiar  and  intoxicating. 

"  I  told  the  lady  most  implicated  that  the  movement 
was  of  the  '  depths  of  Satan.'  That  I  had  been 
mercifully  held  back  twenty-two  years  before  when 
trifling  on  the  brink  of  the  same  awful  pit  (Piggott, 
&c.).      I  told  her  she  was  under  hypnotic  influence. 

"  This  delusion  cannot  stand  the  Word  of  God. 
Bring  this  to  bear  upon  it,  and  it  falls  to  pieces  like 
a  house  of  cards.  Scarcely  one  spiritual  man  of 
standing  has  been  deceived. 

'*  On  one  occasion  the  leader  spoke  on  the 
wise  and  foolish  virgins,  and  said  that  speaking  with 
tongues  was  as  the  oil  in  the  vessels  of  the  wise 
virgins,  and  that  those  who  did  not  obtain  it  would 
go  to  Hell.  After  there  were  the  most  dreadful 
shrieks  in  the  meeting,  and  a  group  of  sisters  were 
on  the  floor,  with  one  stretched  full  length  and 
groaning  in  their  midst. 

"  In  another  meeting  the  leader  did  his  utmost 
to  work  up  the  excitement  and  keep  it  at  boiling 


SANITY   IN   REVIVALS  93 

pitch.  He  commenced  crooning  a  weird  song 
without  words,  moving  his  head  and  his  hands 
gently  with  the  tune ;  but  soon  he  got  more  excited, 
and  this  increased  till  every  member  of  his  body  was 
shaking  at  a  fearful  rate,  and  his  head  shook  as  though 
it  would  soon  shake  itself  off  and  his  song  jerked  itself 
out  in  gasps.     All  was  most  painful  to  witness. 

"  He  then  made  passes  over  an  Indian  pastor 
by  him,  caught  him  by  the  wrists,  and  shook 
him  most  vigorously,  while  he  himself  was  shaking 
in  every  limb,  at  the  same  time  praying  in  a  most 
passionate  manner,  '  Lord,  finish  this  man  off.' 
Then  he  would  rub  his  hand  over  the  poor  man's 
head.  Gradually,  as  I  watched  the  process,  the 
pastor  became  more  and  more  under  the 
influence,  and  at  last  lost  control  and  fell  over. 
Then  he  knelt  up  again  and  began  to  pray  in  an 
ecstacy,  but  without  any  coherence. 

"  I  heard  him  repeat  rapidly  the  word  preaching 
(prasangain)  in  Tamil  many  times,  and  then  at  last  he 
seemed  to  lose  all  knowledge  of  what  he  was  doing  or 
saying,  and  with  his  arms  and  face  working  desper- 
ately he  commenced  repeating  the  word  *  Bramha, 
Bramha,'  perhaps  a  hundred  times,  as  fast  as  he  could 
get  the  word  out.  It  was  the  vocative  of  Bramha, 
the  first  person  of  the  Hindu  Trinity  of  Bramha, 
Vishnu,  and  Siva.  Had  I  needed  any  further  proof 
of  the  devilish  character  of  some  of  these  practices 
in  these  meetings  I  had  it  now  to  the  full.* 
*I  believe  the  pastor  was  very  soon  after  delivered  from  the  snare. 


94  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

"  And  yet  in  this  same  meeting  I  noticed  the 
sisters'  prayers  were  sweet  and  reasonable,  and 
the  hymns  and  choruses  full  of  adoration. 

"  I  am  deeply  convinced  that  whoever  seeks  to 
follow  and  preach  Christ  will  have,  in  days  to  come, 
real  hand-to-hand  conflicts  with  Satanic  hosts,  and 
will  only  be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day  if 
clothed  in  the  whole  armour  of  God." 

I  now  give  a  brief  account  from  Los  Angeles  from 
the  pen  of  one  well  known  to  me,  which  seems  to 
show  the  exceedingly  corrupt  source  from  which  so 
much  of  the  movement  springs. 

"  Los  Angeles,  California,  is  the  common  source 
of  the  present  speaking  with  tongues,  &c. 

''This  is  a  strange  place.  First  there  are  thousands 
of  heathens  with  their  idolatries  and  filthinesses, 
which  means  the  presence  of  demons  in  their  homes. 
There,  then,  is  the  widespread  theosophy,  new 
thought,  mysticism,  sorcery,  clairvoyance,  and 
necromancy.  One  feels  the  air  is  infected  in  a 
peculiar  way. 

"  On  Friday  night  at  a  meeting  I  heard  a  man 
begin  to  draw  in  his  breath  between  his  teeth  with 
a  peculiar  hiss.  I  knew  at  once  what  that  meant ; 
that  he  was  a  man  who  had  some  connection  with 
the  '  tongues  '  movement  in  the  city  where  there 
is  any  amount  of  the  demon  imitation  of  the  things 
of  God.  He  rose  to  give  his  testimony ;  how  he 
had  had  his  baptism  and  spoke  with  tongues,  and 
gvery  one  on  whom  he  laid  his   hands  for  healing 


SANITY   IN   REVIVALS  95 

had  been  healed  instantaneously,  &c.  His  voice 
rose  higher  and  higher  with  the  peculiar  drawn-out 
intonation  that  always  indicates  to  me  demon  posses- 
sion, and  he  raved  and  raved  and  then  began  to  gabble 
in  some  unknown  gibberish,  and  his  arms  became 
rigid. 

"  On  Monday  a  woman  began  to  bark  like  a  dog. 
Another  went  off  into  hysterics  and  fainted.  She  then 
rose  up  and  with  a  fixed  stare  and  arms  rigidly 
stretched  out,  began  to  wander  round  the  room, 
creeping  and  gliding  like  a  snake.  She  remained  in 
this  state  twenty  minutes,  and  one  said  to  me,  "  She 
has  a  familiar  spirit,  and  it  is  all  of  the  devil." 
Then  the  woman  glided  back  to  her  seat. 

"  A  coloured  girl  then  pushed  to  the  front  and  sang 
a  hymn  all  by  herself.  One  felt  that  too  was  of 
the  enemy. 

"  I  can  trace  much  here  to  what  has  gone  on  in  the 
*  tongue '  meetings  where  the  enemy  has  got  in, 
and  the  devils  seem  to  have  cleverly  simulated  the 
work  of  God,  and  these  people,  being  nearly  all 
of  them  ignorant  of  their  Bibles,  are  easily  led 
astray. 

"  1  have  been  thinking  a  good  deal  about  this 
demon  possession,  and  considering  that  here  the 
heathen  are  pouring  in,  Chinese,  Japanese,  and 
Hindoos,  and  have  brought  their  heathenism,  and 
the  idols  are  here,  and  the  demons  are  behind 
them.  It  is  becoming  a  residence  for  demons.  At 
San   Diegos  a  great  colony  exists,  led   by  a   Mrs. 


96  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Tingley,  who  is  the  head  of  a  cult  for  the  worship 
of  Isis,  where  she  has  a  temple  for  this.  The 
inner  life  and  practices  are  never  shown." 

This  movement,  with  its  tongues  and  other  signs, 
has  spread  from  Los  Angeles  all  over  America  to 
Norway  and  Sweden,  to  India  as  we  have  seen,  and 
doubtless  to  many  other  parts.  Here  is  a  very  brief 
extract  from  Pittsburgh,  U.S.A. 

"  What  we  see  here  corresponds  well  with  the 
general  reports  from  elsewhere.  The  meetings  are 
'  bedlam,'  everything  is  confusion  ;  prayers  to  God 
are  yelled  or  groaned  or  barked  or  yelped.  Now 
and  then  some  one  gets  '  the  blessing  '  and  falls  in  a 
trance-like  condition  on  the  floor  to  remain  rigid, 
perhaps  for  hours.  Another  begins  to  talk  some 
sort     of    gibberish*     interspersed     with     English. 

'*  Another  in  a  different  guttural  mumbles  and 
then  gives  an  interpretation  in  English.  These  are 
said  to  have  the  '  unknown  tongues '  of  Pentecost. 
The  people  in  attendance  pay  little  heed  to  what  is 
uttered  by  these  '  tongues  '  and  their  interpretations. 
Some  are  simply  curious,  others  are  too  engrossed 
with  their  desire  to  have  a  trance  or  an  '  unknown 
tongue,'  to  do  anything  else  than  groan  their 
prayers  to  God  for  those  gifts  as  evidence  of  His 
favour.     Frenzied  hugging  and  kissing  and  rolling 


*One  must  ever  remember  that  all  that  is  called  s^ibberish  is 
not  always  so.  I  heard  a  woman  saying  repeatedly  "  Ah  che 
chela  ma  Helo^''  which  I  thought  gibberish,  till  I  learnt  that  on 
the  Congo  it  meant  ''  Hallelujah  to  my  Saviour," 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  97 

on  the  floor  are  amongst  the  evidences  that  these 
poor  people  are  surely  under  some  spirit  influence. 
And  it  certainly  does  not  appear  to  be  '  the  spirit  of 
a  sound  mind  '  (2  Tim.  i.  7). 

"  In  Los  Angeles  a  woman  got  this  so-called  gift  of 
tongues,  and  a  reputable  Chinaman  hearing  her, 
said  that  he  understood  her  quite  well — that  she 
spoke  his  dialect  of  Chinese.  Pressed  for  an  inter- 
pretation he  declined,  saying  that  the  utterance  was 
the  vilest  of  the  vile. 

"  In  our  judgment  the  facts  justify  the  con- 
clusion that  these  '  signs  '  are  of  an  unholy  spirit  of 
Satan  ;  that  he  is  now  producing  a  poor  counterfeit 
for  the  deception  of  a  class  whom  he  cannot  reach 

otherwise." 

****** 

Having  given,  for  the  sake  of  juxtaposition, 
accounts  from  India  and  America  of  the  efforts  of 
Satan  to  counterfeit  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  it 
will  be  well  now  to  give  brief  accounts  from  reliable 
eye  witnesses  of  some  manifestations  which  appear 
from  the  fruits  of  the  work,  to  proceed  from  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  close  and  careful  study  I  have  been  obliged 
to  give  to  this  question  leads  me  to  the  conclusion 
that  those  who  declare  the  whole  of  what  is  going  on 
to  be  of  the  devil,  and  those  who  declare  it  to  be  of 
God  are  both  alike  wrong. 

In  the  first  place,  as  a  medical  man,  I  feel  that  while 
much  extravagant  behaviour  can  be  attributed  to 

H 


98  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

mere  imitative  hysteria,  some  of  the  power  behind 
the  manifestations  is  supernatural  rather  than  patho- 
logical in  character. 

It  seems  from  the  evidence  that  this  power  is  of 
two  sorts — the  genuine  and  the  false.  The  former 
is  quite  distinguishable  from  the  latter  by  the  godly 
and  Christian  results  of  real  converts  from 
heathenism,  sound  in  faith  and  doctrine  ;  the  latter 
while  exaggerating  and  caricaturing  some  of  the 
outward  signs  of  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
fails  to  produce  what  cannot  be  imitated — lives 
changed  by  the  power  of  God. 

The  task  of  distinguishing  between  the  two  is  not, 
however,  quite  so  simple  as  it  would  appear;  because 
in  many  cases  where  a  genuine  work  of  God  is  going 
on,  counterfeits  are  introduced  by  the  enemy.  In 
other  words,  while  the  results  of  the  general  mission 
work  may  be  of  God,  many  of  the  accompanying 
phenomena  may  not  be. 

I  will  give  a  few  extracts  by  a  reliable  eye-witness 
I  descriptive  of  scenes,  some  of  which  do  appear  to 
proceed  from  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  origin  of  this  class  of  work  in  India  seems 
to  be  the  Welsh  Revival ;  that  of  the  other  I  have 
described  was  Los  Angeles,  California  ;  and  these  are 
certainly  two  very  different  sources. 

"  According  to  the  laws  of  the  spiritual  kingdom 
it  was  quite  in  order  that  the  Welsh  Revival  should 
be  reproduced  on  the  Welsh  corner  of  the  Indian 
Mission  Field, 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  99 

"For  ten  days  before  the  Pariong  Presbytery,  we 
had  daily  prayer  meetings  to  ask  God  to  send  His 
Holy  Spirit  on  us  in  that  Presbytery.  We  felt  that 
God  was  very  near  to  us,  and  had  a  strong  hope  of 
seeing  something  wonderful,  so  went  in  good 
numbers,  both  men  and  women.  We  were  not 
disappointed,  for  we  saw  with  our  own  eyes  in  very 
truth  the  Holy  Spirit  descending  with  power  on  the 
people  assembled  there.  Never  had  we  experienced 
such  a  thing  before,  and  we  praise  God  for  it.  After 
returning  we  had  a  meeting  in  Ranthong  at  which 
nearly  all  the  Christians  were  present.  We  told  of 
the  marvellous  things  the  Lord  had  done  at  Pariong, 
and  afterwards,  while  we  were  pra3'ing,  the  Spirit 
descended  on  us  also. 

"  From  that  day  many  of  our  friends  are  like  new 
creatures  ;  they  love  the  services,  they  love  the  Word, 
they  are  more  earnest  in  prayer,  they  love  their 
neighbours  better,  and  they  are  bolder  and  more 
active  in  preaching  and  speaking  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  The  heathen  wonder  at  the  transformation 
of  the  Christians,  and  many  come  to  hear  the 
Gospel." 

The  following  is  from  another  district. 

"  The  next  evening,  June  30th,  while  P.  R. 
was  expounding  John  viii.  in  the  daily  prayer 
meeting  in  her  usual  quiet  way,  the  Holy 
Spirit  descended  with  power,  and  all  the 
girls  began  to  pray  aloud  so  that  she  had  to 
cease  talking.     Little  children,  middle-sized   girls, 


loo  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

and  young  women,  wept  bitterly  and  confessed  their 
sins.  Some  few  saw  visions  and  experienced  the 
power  of  God,  and  things  that  are  too  deep  to  be 
described.  Two  httle  girls  had  the  spirit  of  prayer 
poured  on  them  in  such  torrents  that  they  continued 
to  pray  for  hours.  They  were  transformed  with 
heavenly  light  shining  on  their  faces. 

"  The  news  of  the  Revival  in  Wales  brought 
gladness  to  R.  In  January,  1905,  she  told  her 
pupils  about  it,  and  called  for  volunteers  to  meet 
with  her  daily  for  special  prayer  for  a  Revival  in 
India.  Seventy  came  forward,  and  from  time  to  time 
others  joined.  In  June,  550  were  meeting  twice 
daily  in  this  praying  Band. 

"  Prayer  continued  all  night  in  the  various  com- 
pounds on  more  than  one  occasion.  The  Bible 
school  was  filled  with  those  crying  for  mercy.  Such 
repentance,  such  heart-searching,  such  agony  over 
sin,  and  tears,  as  they  cried  for  pardon  and  cleansing 
and  a  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  !  Then  a  baptism 
like  a  fire  within  them  came  upon  them.  They 
seemed  to  have  their  eyes  opened  to  see  "  the  body  of 
sin  "  in  themselves.  Then  came  a  strong  realization 
of  Christ's  work  upon  the  cross ;  then  peace, 
followed  by  intense  joy.  It  often  took  a  soul  hours 
to  pass  through  all  these  experiences.  The  Lord 
used  the  Word  greatly,  and  the  work  went  on  rapidly 
for  three  days.  Satan  was  also  busy  and  tried  to 
counterfeit  all  he  saw.  Some  who  saw  the  joy 
thought  they  could  get  it  by  imitating  what  they  had 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  loi 

seen  the  others  do.  Yet  the  work  went  on,  and  thus 
early  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  suppHcation  for  a 
Revival  in  India  was  poured  out  like  a  flood. 

"*  Perhaps,'  says  Rev.  A.  L.Wiley, who  chronicled 
these  experiences,  *  some  will  say  this  is  all 
imaginary ;  but  if  it  has  been  once  experienced,  or 
witnessed  even,  no  doubt  will  remain.'  He  con- 
tinues :  '  Simultaneous  prayer  is  not  confined  to  the 
meetings  only.  Wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  at  all  hours  of  the  day  or  night,  there  will  be  a 
season  of  simultaneous  prayer.  It  is  not  an  unusual 
thing  to  awake  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  to  hear  a 
roar  of  prayer  in  the  orphanage  or  in  other  places.' 

"  Is  it  all  real  ?  To  those  of  us  who  have  gone 
through  it,  this  question  seems  out  of  place.  We 
also  reply,  '  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.' 
Differences  of  long  standing  have  been  made  up,  and 
a  beautiful  harmony  and  unity  prevail.  Restitution 
has  been  made.  Silver  and  gold  ornaments  have 
been  thrown  into  the  collecting  bag.  Those  who 
were  afraid  to  testify  for  Christ  in  public,  testify 
now  with  beaming  faces.  Many  who  never  gave  the 
message  before  to  the  heathen,  or  who  went  in  fear 
and  trembling,  now  go  with  great  boldness  and 
rejoicing  to  tell  of  Him  who  has  changed  their  lives. 
Yes,  they  have  looked  unto  Him  and  have  become 
radiant  with  His  own  glory  and  beauty.  Many 
although  baptized  had  never  experienced  any  change 
of  life,  had  never  been  converted;  but  all  have 
experienced  that  change  now." 


102  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

A  later  account  says  : — 

*'One  Sunday,  as  I  was  coming  out  of  the 
Church,  after  the  morning  service,  I  saw  some  girls 
standing  near  the  door  of  a  worker's  room.  They 
seemed  greatly  excited  and  wondering.  I  soon 
found  out  the  cause  of  their  wonder.  A  girl  was 
praying  aloud,  and  praising  God  in  the  English 
language.  She  did  not  know  the  language.  Some 
of  us  gathered  around  her  in  the  room,  and  joined 
her  mentall}^  in  prayer.  She  was  perfectly  un- 
conscious of  what  was  going  on,  her  eyes  were  fast 
closed,  and  she  was  speaking  to  the  Lord  Jesus  very 
fluently  in  English.  I  had  heard  her  and  some 
other  girls  uttering  only  a  few  syllables.  Some  of 
them  repeated  certain  words  over  and  over  again ; 
some  spoke  one  or  more  sentences,  and  some  were 
simply  groaning  as  if  under  a  great  agony  of  heart 
and  mind  and  carrying  a  great  burden  of  soul. 

"  So  far  as  I  can  judge  people  by  their  daily 
life,  I  am  convinced  more  and  more,  that  those  who 
have  received  the  gift  of  tongues,  have  been  greatly 
helped  to  lead  better  lives,  and  are  filled  with  zeal 
for  the  salvation  of  others,  and  are  given  to  more 
earnest  prayer  than  they  were  formerly.*  The  Lord 
has  been  most  graciously  visiting  His  children 
here  for  the  last  two  years,  and  He  has  blessed 
some  with  this  special  gift.     Many  others  have  not 

*  We  give  this  judgment  of  the  writer  here,  but  do  not  thereby 
endorse  "the  gift  of  tongues"  as  Divine.  As  will  be  seen,  it 
is  too  soon  for  those  at  a  distance  to  pronounce  a  judgment. 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  163 

had  this  gift,  but  they  have  been  much  blessed  in 
other  ways. 

"  As  a  result  of  this  visitation,  these  people 
are  beginning  to  feel  their  responsibility,  to 
give  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  others.  They  are 
doing  their  work  in  a  very  humble  way  without 
being  paid  for  it,  and  without  expecting  any  reward 
in  this  world.  They  are  magnifying  Christ,  giving 
Him  all  glory,  and  travailing  in  prayer  for  the  lost 
souls  living  around  them.  They  do  not  act 
foolishly,  or  do  extravagant  things  in  their  daily  life. 
They  are  very  humble  and  unpretending  people, 
walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  This  sort  of  fruit 
is  not  borne  by  the  branches  *  of  the  vine  of  the 
earth,'  but  is  the  fruit  of  the  True  Vine. 

"  I  have  to  learn  a  great  deal  more  than  I  know 
at  present,  so  shall  wait  upon  the  Lord,  and  a^ 
Him  to  teach  me  and  lead  me  as  He  will.  It  is 
neither  safe  nor  right  to  say,  that  every  physical 
manifestation,  and  other  signs  which  are  appearing 
among  people  visited  by  the  present  Holy  Ghost 
revival  are  from  the  devil." 

I  will  now  give  a  very  brief  account  of  a  remark- 
able work  in  Korea  as  described  by  the  Rev.  Lord 
W.  Gascoyne-Cecil  in  The  Times.     He  says  : — 

"  There  is  in  the  north  of  Korea  a  town  called 
Pyeng  Yang,  in  which  work  two  bodies  of  American 
missionaries,  with  ordinary  even  if  rather  successful 
missions.  They  had  a  practice  of  summoning  all 
their  converts  from  the  country  round  to  come  for 


104  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

ten  days  in  Spring  to  receive  further  instruction  in 
the  faith,  for  the  ignorance  of  professing  Christians 
is  at  all  times  a  great  difficulty  to  the  missionaries. 
This  meeting  was  purely  educational.  There  were 
no  moving  hymns,  no  emotional  speeches. 

"The  mission  chiefly  concerned  was  a  Presbyterian 
mission  conducted  by  Americans  whose  Scottish 
origin  was  obvious,  not  only  in  their  names,  but  in 
every  line  of  their  faces  and  demeanour.  Except  for 
the  accent,  one  would  have  thought  oneself  in  the 
presence  of  representatives  of  the  cold  and  canny  race 
that  lives  in  our  northern  kingdom,  and  I  only  dilate 
on  this  point  because  it  is  necessary  to  separate  the 
phenomena  I  am  going  to  relate  from  those 
emotional  manifestations  of  religion  with  which 
most  of  us  are  conversant  under  the  name  of  revival 
meetings,  and  which  most  of  us  distrust. 

"  The  meetings  held  on  the  first  seven  days  were 
common-place.  The  usual  syllabus  of  instruction  was 
followed,  and  at  the  end  of  the  week,  to  all  appear- 
ance, the  meetings  might  be  expected  to  go  on  as 
they  always  had  done  till  they  closed  on  the  tenth  day. 
But  just  at  the  end,  to  the  surprise  of  the  missionary 
who  was  conducting  the  meeting,  one  of  the  Korean 
men  arose  and  expressed  a  desire  to  speak,  as  some- 
thing was  on  his  mind  which  lay  so  heavily  on  his 
conscience  that  he  could  no  longer  sit  still. 

"This  caused  a  feeling  of  annoyance  to  theconductor 
of  the  service,  for  it  was  in  the  nature  of  an  interrup- 
tion, but  he  thought  it  wiser  to  give  the  man  leave  to 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  105 

unburden  his  conscience.  The  sin  turned  out  to  be 
merely  a  feeling  of  animosity  and  injury  on  account 
of  a  fancied  slight  which  he  had  received  a  year  ago 
from  the  missionary.  To  settle  his  doubt  the 
missionary  assured  him  that  he  forgave  him  for  his 
ill-temper,  and  then  began  to  say  a  prayer.  He 
reached  only  the  word  *  My  Father,'  when,  with  a 
rush,  a  power  from  without  seemed  to  take  hold  of 
the  meeting. 

*'  The  Europeans  described  its  manifestations 
as  terrifying.  Nearly  everybody  present  was 
seized  with  the  most  poignant  sense  of  mental 
anguish,  before  each  one  his  own  sins  seemed  to  be 
rising  in  condemnation  of  his  life.  Some  were 
springing  to  their  feet  pleading  for  an  opportunity  to 
relieve  their  consciences  by  making  their  abasement 
known,  others  were  silent  but  rent  with  agon}^, 
clenching  their  fists  and  striking  their  heads  against 
the  ground,  in  the  struggle  to  resist  the  Power  that 
would  force  them  to  confess  their  misdeeds. 

"  From  eight  in  the  evening  to  two  in  the  morning 
did  the  scene  go  on,  and  then  the  missionaries,  horror- 
struck  at  some  of  the  sins  confessed,  frightened 
by  the  presence  of  a  Power  which  could  work  such 
a  wonder,  reduced  to  tears  by  sympathy  w^ith  the 
mental  agony  of  the  Korean  disciples  whom  they 
loved  so  dearly,  stopped  the  meeting.  Some  went 
home  to  sleep,  but  many  of  the  Koreans  spent  the 
night  awake :  some  in  prayer,  others  in  terrible 
spiritual  conflict. 


io5  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

*'  Next  day  the  missionaries  hoped  that  the 
storm  was  over,  and  that  the  comforting  teaching 
of  the  Holy  Word  would  bind  up  the  wounds 
of  yesternight,  but  again  the  same  anguish  the 
same  confession  of  sins,  and  so  it  went  on  for 
several  days.  It  was  with  mingled  feelings  of  horror 
and  gratitude  that  the  missionaries  heard  the  long 
list  of  crimes  committed  by  those  whom  they  had 
hoped  were  examples  of  righteousness. 

"One  man  confessed  a  crime  not  so  horrible  to  their 
minds  as  to  ours — viz.,  that  of  murdering  his  infant 
daughter  ;  another  confessed  a  crime  worse  even  to 
Korean  ears  than  it  is  to  our  own,  that  of  killing  his 
old  and  infirm  mother  to  escape  from  the  burden  of 
her  maintenance.  A  trusted  native  pastor  confessed 
to  adultery,  and  of  sexual  sins  both  natural  and 
unnatural  there  were  no  lack. 

"  Not  only  was  there  confession,  but,  where  it  was 
possible,  reparation  was  made.  One  man  sold  his 
house  to  repay  money  he  had  embezzled,  and  has 
since  been  homeless  ;  another  returned  a  wedge  of 
gold  he  had  stolen  years  before.  Some  did  not 
find  peace  for  many  days.  One  man  struggled  till 
it  seemed  as  if  his  health  would  give  way,  to  resist 
the  power  that  was  forcing  him  to  confession,  and 
then  at  last  with  pale  face  and  downcast  eyes  came  to 
tell  his  sin.  He  was  the  trusted  native  preacher, 
and  he  had  misused  his  position  to  rob  the  mission. 
He  furnished  an  exact  account  of  his  defalcations, 
and  has  since  repaid  every  penny  of  the  money. 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  107 

**  When  we  reached  Pyeng  Yang  the  storm  was 
over.  At  the  meeting  I  attended  wnat  struck  me 
most  was  the  look  of  quiet  devotion  which  shone  on 
many  faces.  There  were  no  exclamations  of 
theatrical  piety,  no  reference  to  a  man's  own  sins  and 
conversion.  The  meeting  took  these  for  granted. 
At  first  it  was  feared  that  the  confession  of  such 
heinous  sins  would  injure  the  Christian  body  in 
the  eyes  of  the  heathen  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they 
were  deeply  impressed,  for  they  said,  "  These  men 
under  torture  would  not  have  confessed  such  sins, 
how  great  must  be  the  power  of  this  religion."  This 
was  told  me  as  the  opinion  of  a  heathen  Korean 
expressed  to  an  English  layman.  Bishop  Turner 
said  that  what  most  impressed  him  about  this  great 
turning  to  Christ  was  that  the  Koreans  as  a  nation 
were  not  emotional." 

Having  given  these  extracts  from  India  and 
Korea,  I  will  comment  briefly  on  some  of  the  won- 
derful manifestations  that  have  accompanied  the 
movement,  leaving  for  the  moment  the  special 
question  of  **  tongues." 

Taking  into  consideration  the  remarkable  fact 
that  these  are  stories  of  the  direct  action  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  upon  heathen  people  of  the  Far  East, 
deeply  imbued  with  demon  worship,  incantations, 
and  prodigies  of  all  sorts,  the  first  point  that  strikes 
me  is  the  decided  sobriety  of  the  narrations  ;  as 
well  marked,  indeed,  as  that  which  describes  the 
early  years  of  our  Lord  in  the  Gospels,  when  com- 


to8  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

pared  with  the  weird,  sensational,  and  unnatural 
stories  that  abound  in  the  apocryphal  narratives  of 
His  childhood. 

In  reading  the  accounts  two  things  at  least  must 
be  borne  in  mind.  The  first  is,  that  since  the  days 
of  Pentecost  there  is  no  record  of  the  sudden  and 
direct  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  souls  of 
men  that  has  not  been  accompanied  by  events  more 
or  less  abnormal.  It  is,  indeed,  on  consideration, 
only  natural  that  it  should  be  so.  We  cannot  expect 
an  unusual  inrush  of  Divine  light  and  power,  so 
profoundly  affecting  the  emotions  and  changing  the 
lives  of  men,  without  remarkable  results.  As  well 
expect  a  hurricane,  an  earthquake,  or  a  flood,  to 
leave  nothing  abnormal  in  its  course,  as  to  expect 
a  true  Revival  that  is  not  accompanied  by  events 
quite  out  of  our  ordinary  experience. 

The  second  point  is  that  there  is  no  nation  on 
earth  more  narrow  in  its  ideas  of  what  is  fit  and  not 
fit,  what  is  proper  and  not  proper,  what  is  legitimate 
and  what  not,  than  the  English ;  and  none  more 
slow  to  comprehend  the  difference  between  the  East 
and  the  West.  This  is  remarkably  shown  in  the 
misunderstanding  of  what  is  of  the  East  in  the 
Bible — and  how  much  there  is  !  As  Dr.  Bullinger 
and  others  have  so  well  shown,  the  Bible  is  con- 
stantly wrongly  interpreted,  through  the  utter  want 
of  knowledge  and  sympathy  with  the  Eastern  style 
of  language  and  thought  that  pervades  it. 

Having    then  grasped  these  two    points,    let   us 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  109 

consider  the  abnormal  (to  us)  in  this  work.  We 
come  across  dreams,  visions,  waking  visions,  and  a 
good  deal  of  noise  and  irregular  procedure.  Attempts 
made  to  introduce  greater  outward  decorum  were 
apparently  attended  with  no  good  results,  and  so 
they  were  abandoned. 

There  were  visional  illusions  of  different  sorts, 
such  as  seeing  a  girl  on  fire — which,  after  all,  is  not  very 
different  from  seeing  a  light  shining  on  a  girl's  face. 

We  get  wailing,  laughter,  trembling,  visions  of 
the  Saviour,  and  healing  of  disease,  and  intoxication 
with  joy. 

We  get  also  possession  of  demons,  beating  of 
breasts,  and  rolling  on  the  ground.  We  also  get 
sounds  of  rushing  wind,  feelings  of  inward  burning, 
and  visions  of  fire. 

And  really  this  is  about  all  besides  the  "  tongues." 
Some  of  course,  will  say  it  is  enough,  and  others 
that  it  is  too  much. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  in  Belfast 
and  in  South  Wales  many  of  us  can  remember 
manifestations  at  least  as  remarkable;  which  in 
cases  specially  examined  were  demonstrated  to  be 
genuine,  and  free  from  fraud  or  exaggeration. 

It  may  be  worth  our  while  briefly  to  consider  these 
phenomena.     They  may  be  classified  as  follows  : — 

Dreams  and  visions  when  asleep  (See  Acts  ii.  17). 

Emotional  actions  )   (see    many    passages    in   the 

Emotional  feelings)       Gospels). 

Possession  of  demons  (See  Mark  xvi.  17,  &c.). 


no  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Healing  of  diseases  (see  Mark  xvi.  i8,  &c.). 

Ocular  phenomena  (see  Acts  ii.  3). 

Auditory  phenomena  (see  Acts  ii.  2). 
I   have  set  down  opposite  each   one    a   passage  of 
Scripture  where  similar  abnormalities  occur. 

Let  us  remember,  in  considering  these,  that  in 
India  at  least,  they  are  commonplaces ;  that  in 
English  Revivals  they  also  occur  ;  and  that,  above 
all,  they  are  not  the  abnormalities  and  the  marvels 
of  the  movement  at  all.  These  consist  in  changed 
hearts  and  lives,  in  men  and  women  transformed 
from  darkness  to  light  in  a  moment ;  and  the  very 
practical  demonstration  of  this  by  the  payment  of 
old  debts,  by  loving  their  neighbours,  by  an  entire 
alteration  of  life.  Without  these  real  wonders  the 
cries  and  visions  and  dreams  would  attract  little 
notice. 

What,  however,  we  are  particularly  prone  to  as 
Anglo-Saxons  in  the  West  is,  to  attempt  to  dis- 
credit the  real  marvels  on  account  of  their  (to  our 
ideas)  somewhat  unnatural  and  indecorous  accom- 
paniments. Now  to  understand  these  manifestations 
in  any  way  we  must  know  a  little,  a  very  little,  about 
the  mind  of  man  and  its  wonders. 

We  must  understand  that  the  eye  of  conscious- 
ness can  see  only  a  portion  of  our  mental  thoughts, 
emotions,  and  actions,  and  that  a  vast  district  of 
instincts,  emotions,  and  thoughts,  remain  hidden 
from  our  ken  in  unconsciousness.  It  is  indeed  here 
in  the  unconscious  mind  that  we  find  the  seat  of  the 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  m 

character,  of  the  personahty,  of  the  ego ;  and  here  i 
also  is  the  seat  of  the  new  hfe,  the  sphere  of  the  new  I 
birth,  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  ' 

The  presence  of  the   Spirit   is  not  the  subject  of  f 
direct  consciousness.     Visions,  meditations,  prayers, 
and  dreams,   have  been  undoubtedly  occasions   of 
spiritual  revelations. 

A  clergyman  of  great  experience  told  me  that  he 
believed  that  in  one-third  of  the  Christian  people  in 
England  dreams  were  connected  with  their  conver- 
sion, and  it  is  quite  certain  that  many  are  thus 
influenced. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  what  room  is  left  for 
amazement  or  cavil  at  the  manifestations  recorded 
here  in  connection  with  a  people  so  prone  to  sub- 
jective phenomena  ? 

For  we  must  remember  that  ocular  and  auditory 
phenomena  may  be  subjective  or  objective ;  and  it 
really  matters  little  which.  The  point  in  all  these 
wonders  is  the  permanent  effect  for  good  that  results 
in  the  lives  of  the  subjects  of  them — and  here  the 
record  seems  clear.  As  to  the  emotional  cries  and 
actions,  little  need  be  said,  when  we  remember 
how  extravagant  men  may  become  even  in  England 
in  times  of  deep  sorrow  or  sudden  joy.  The  conduct 
of  thousands  of  otherwise  sober  people  was  just  as 
amazing  during  the  Boer  war  (Mafeking  night,  &c.). 

The  Apostle  writes  of  being  "beside  himself" 
with  joy,  and  of  "  being  filled  with  the  Spirit,"  as 
contrasted  with  drunkennesg, 


112  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  seeing  and  feeling  of 
fire  is  probably  directly  traceable  to  the  prominence 
given  in  all  these  Revivals  in  the  present  day  to  the 
teaching  that  Matt.  iii.  ii  refers  to  the  Holy  Ghost 
coming  as  fire,*  and  to  the  hymns  addressed  to  the 
*'  Spirit  of  Burning  "  ;  so  that  undoubtedly  the  ideas 
of  all  the  manifestations  and  sounds  and  feelings  were 
all  there  in  the  atmosphere  and  minds  of  the  people. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  is  quite  natural  that 
an  impressionable  people  should  see,  hear,  and  feel, 
in  accordance  with  their  thoughts.     Why  even  we 
may  shiver  with  cold  in  a  warm  room  if  we  hear  a 
graphic  account  of  suffering  in  the  Arctic   regions. 
Hence  I   am   inclined  to  believe  these  records  are 
true  and  unexaggerated ;  the  real  marvel  being,  I 
I  again  repeat,  not  the  manifestations  at  all,  but  that 
[hidden  work  of  the  Spirit  which  accompanied  them 
in  such  power  as  to  transform  the  men  and  women 
who  experienced  them  into  new  creatures  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

I  should  like  here  to  say  one  word  about  the 
"possession  with  demons." 

I  think  those  who  know  the  East  cannot  doubt 
that  Satan's  power  there  is  beyond  all  dispute,  and 
any  who  have  read  the  painfully  realistic  pages  of 

*  It  is  thought  by  many  that  v.  12  gives  the  true  interpretation 
of  V.  II.  That  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  to  "  Gather  the 
wheat  into  his  garner,"  and  that  of  the  fire  to  burn  up  the  chaff. 
It  is  most  important  to  notice  that  when  Pentecost  is  foretold 
in  Acts  i.  5  no  fire  is  mentioned,  but  the  Holy  Ghost  is. 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  113 

Things  as  They  Are  must  know  how  devil-possessed 
many  in  India  are.  Lunacy  is  a  general  word  that 
covers  any  departure  from  sanity,  but  I  think  that 
at  times  it  covers  even  more.  My  experience  even 
in  England  goes  to  show,  and  I  think  the  experience 
of  all  skilled  men  directly  connected  with  mental 
diseases  proves  conclusively,  that  here  and  there 
one  comes  across  a  case  that  is  evidently  "pos- 
sessed "  by  some  evil  spirit. 

I  have  seen  a  marked  and  special  malignity  against 
God  in  a  lady,  naturally  of  a  gentle  and  reverent 
character,  with  a  use  of  the  most  abominable  words 
which  could  never  have  been  even  heard,  and  a  delight 
in  evil  entirely  contrary  to  her  life  and  ways,  that 
compels  one  to  believe  in  actual  "  possession  "  in 
such  a  case. 

With  regard  to  the  "  tongues,"  from  many  quarters 
one  gets  glowing  accounts  of  their  use  far  exceeding 
the  short  extract  I  have  given. 

But  in  view  of  the  facts  so  solemnly  recorded  in 
Mr.  Baxter's  remarkable  narrative,  where  we  get  a 
most  sober  and  clever  Christian  man  entirely  led 
astray  by  them,  believing  firmly  all  the  time  it  was 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  also  the  terrible  history  of 
the  "tongues"  in  London  in  the  i8th  Century,  I 
feel  one  must  suspend  one's  judgment ;  it  being 
quite  possible  that  godly  men  wholly  in  earnest 
may  find  later  on  that  they  are  mistaken.  Time  is 
certainly  often  required  to  judge  ;  all  one  can  say, 
that  hitherto  these   "gifts    of  tongues"  have   been 


114  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

sources  of  great  distress  and  error  in  the  Christian 
Church. 

In  certain  cases,  as  we  have  seen,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  there  is  a  delusion  of  the  enemy  ;  but  in  other 
cases,  apparently,  the  question  is  doubtful,  as  there 
appears  at  present  to  have  been  edification  and  real 
Spiritual  blessing.  I  think,  however,  in  view  of 
terrible  past  experiences,  the  reasonable  course  is  to 
defer  one's  judgment  for  the  present. 

I  may  add  one  word  more  which  may  help  some 
who  rightly  find  a  difficulty  in  believing  many  of  the 
occurrences  in  a  true  revival  to  be  of  God,  It  does 
not  in  the  least  follow,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  comes 
in  power  in  an  individual  or  a  meeting,  that  the 
often  trying  manifestations  and  actions  are  of 
Divine  origin  at  all.  Neither  need  they  be  in  the  least 
Satanic.  The  cries,  contortions,  trances,  &c.,  may 
be  merely  the  natural  reaction  of  the  person  under 
sudden  and  strange  feelings.  So  that  while  the 
work  may  be  of  God,  there  is  not  the  least  need  to 
suppose  that  all  the  manifestations  are  ;  for  much 
that  is  human  accompanies  it.  At  the  same  time  it 
is  quite  possible  that  the  imitations  by  Satan  which 
I  have  spoken  of  and  will  further  describe,  may 
accompany  a  true  revival.  One  can  never,  therefore, 
even  in  a  genuine  work,  be  sure  that  all  one  sees  is 
of  God  ;  but  must  be  prepared  to  distinguish 
between  the  Divine,  the  human,  and  possibly  also 
the  evil  elements  present. 

A  good  sovereign  is  worth  twenty  shillings  at  all 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  115 

times,  and  its  value  endures.  A  false  one  may  pass 
current  with  the  unwary  once  or  twice,  but  is  soon 
found  to  be  worthless  ;  and  it  could  never  circulate  at 
all  if  there  were  not  good  ones  current  at  the  time.  It 
is  the  genuine  work  that  makes  the  false  imitation 
possible.  It  is  quite  probable  that  elsewhere  genuine 
and  remarkable  manifestations  of  Divine  power  have 
been  seen  and  borne  solid  fruit  as  well  as  in  India. 
Only  it  will  always  be  found  that  at  many  such  centres 
the  devil  is  also  active  and  counterfeits  the  genuine 
work  of  God  as  well  as  he  is  able. 

Of  course,  time  always  shows  ;  for  what  is  not  of 
God  must  come  to  naught  in  spiritual  things  ;  and 
as  I  have  said,  in  the  case  of  speaking  with  tongues, 
I  think  there  are  weighty  reasons  from  the  past  for 
suspending  one's  judgment. 

With  regard  to  these  I  may  add  a  word  from 
personal  experience.  No  doubt  I  was  fortunate  in 
lately  being  amongst  an  exceedingly  earnest  body 
of  Christian  people  with  an  able  and  quiet  and 
experienced  Christian  leader,  who  did  not  himself 
speak  with  tongues  at  all — but  who  was  waiting  for  the 
gift.  I  attended  a  long  meeting  (three  hours)  and  was 
much  struck  with  the  simple  earnest  faith  of  the 
people;  with  their  intelligence  and  joyful  acceptance 
of  the  leading  articles  of  Christian  faith,  the  atoning 
work  of  Christ,  the  value  of  His  blood,  of  death  and 
burial  with  Him,  of  resurrection  life,  of  the  power  of 
the  indwelling  Spirit,  these  all  being  specially  empha- 
sized. 


ii6  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Not  only  so,  but  no  one  could  see  them  without 
a  strong  impression  that  there  was  no  conscious 
effort  to  work  up  any  excitement,  but  that  the 
whole  desire  of  the  meeting  was  for  the  glory  of 
God,  and  that  some  of  the  leaders  at  any  rate  were 
guarded  and  watchful  against  anything  of  evil 
influence. 

Having  said  this,  I  must  add  that  to  me  there  was 
much  also  that  disfigured  what  would  otherwise  have 
been  an  exceptionally  bright  and  helpful  gathering. 
For  an  hour  or  more  there  were  low  mutterings  and 
jabberings  about  the  room  louder  and  softer  ;  sup- 
posed I  believe  to  be  "  tongues,"  but  to  me,  in 
part  at  any  rate,  simply  uncouth  sounds  uttered 
with  great  rapidity,  and  not  any  real  language 
at  all. 

I  was  told  that  when  the  tongues  were  received  at 
first  by  anyone  (as  a  result  of  laying  on  of  hands)  the 
person  often  jabbered  incessantly  for  two  or  three 
days  as  if  practising  them,  and  then  got  more 
orderly ;  but  at  no  time  was  the  use  subject  to  his 
will  or  control,  as  to  time  or  method ;  but  at  times  he 
could  avoid  giving  audible  utterance.  I  gathered 
that  as  a  rule  the  speaker  in  tongues  had  no  intelli- 
gence of  what  he  was  saying. 

Those  in  the  meeting  also  spoke  constantly  of 
tongues  and  other  signs  as  receiving  a  "  Pentecost," 
and  these  signs  were  regarded  as  oil  in  the  lamps  of 
the  faithful — a  dangerous  line  to  take,  leading  rapidly 
to  the  formation  of  an  exclusive  class,  and  possibly 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  117 

a  denial  of  true  Christianity  to  those  who  did  not 
possess  them. 

There  were  also  loud  shrill  utterances  in 
"  unknown  tongues  "  with  a  very  rapid  interpretation 
repeated  twenty  or  thirty  times  at  great  speed,  and 
also  hissing  sounds  all  over  the  room  as  the  breath 
was  drawn  in  sharply  between  the  teeth.  Two  near 
me,  a  girl  and  a  curate,  appeared  in  a  trance  for  over 
an  hour,  quite  unconscious  of  what  was  passing. 
The  girl  was  saying  "  li-li-li-li  "  with  great  rapidity, 
while  smiling  foolishly,  while  the  curate  was  earnestly 
jabbering  at  a  high  speed  in  guttural  sounds  ;  and 
yet  I  was  told  that  the  girl  two  days  before  had 
given  a  most  touching  address,  and  I  had  heard  the 
curate  earlier  give  a  short  and  lucid  account  of  his 
experiences. 

The  final  impression  on  my  mind  was  that  these 
were  good  earnest  Christian  people,  who  through 
perhaps  wrong  and  undue  pressing  of  the  value  of  signs 
and  gifts,  &c.,  had  unconsciously  produced  these  with 
more  or  less  success  by  imitation  and  action  of  the 
mind.  To  me  the  part  that  was  of  God  was  the 
joy  and  simple  faith,  and  the  error  lay  in  seeking 
these  signs  and  calling  them  Pentecost.  Evil 
agencies  also  were  undoubtedly  at  work  and  probably 
often  mistaken  for  the  work  of  God.  Several  there 
were  said  to  have  had  "devils"  cast  out  of  them; 
one  being  the  curate,  that  very  afternoon. 

With  regard  to  the  power  at  work,  I  know 
of   only    three    agencies    at    most    that    can     use 


ii8  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

the  body.  There  is  myself,  and  then  there  are  the 
supernatural  powers  of  good  and  evil.  Respecting 
the  two  latter  most  people  think  they  know  a  good 
deal ;  and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  of  evil 
forces  in  opposition  seem  quite  familiar  to  those 
who  are  mixed  up  with  these  recent  manifestations. 
What  is  not  seen  nor  understood  and  cannot  be 
believed,  is  the  extent  to  which  one's  own  mind  can 
energize  the  body  without  any  conscious  knowledge 
and  consent.  Such  action  is  continually  attributed 
to  external  agencies,  but  is  really  from  within. 
Two  things  must  be  understood,  first,  that  the 
mind  extends  far  beyond  the  limits  of  consciousness 
and  that  the  unconscious  part  has  entire  power 
over  the  body ;  not  only  in  causing  and  curing 
'  disease,  but  in  producing  under  certain  conditions, 
without  the  knowledge  or  will  of  the  conscious 
mind,  but  chiefly  as  the  .result  of  suggestion — 
stigmata  or  wounds  and  bruises  all  over  the  body, 
sometimes  in  perfect  imitation  of  the  five  wounds  of 
our  Lord,  trances,  contortions  of  all  sorts  under 
emotion,  cries  and  languages  not  previously  spoken, 
also  mysterious  utterances  or  strange  voices,  and 
many  other  phenomena  well  known  in  spiritualistic 
circles. 

The  best  conditions  for  producing  these  natural 
but  rare  phenomena  are  a  weakened  body,  over- 
strained nerves,  the  presence  of  numbers,  concentra- 
tion on  the  desired  signs  or  gifts,  strong  suggestions 
as   to   possessing   them,    and    powerful    influences. 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  119 

These  seemed  all  present  at  the  meeting  I  was  at  ; 
and  I  should  therefore  be  very  slow  to  attribute  to 
supernatural  power,  least  of  all  to  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
any  of  the  unseemly  sights  and  sounds  I  witnessed. 

In  reviewing  and  considering  the  various 
manifestations  of  Satan's  power  in  India  and 
California  as  compared  with  those  of  Irvingism  we 
at  once  notice  the  difference  of  the  atmosphere.  In 
the  narrative  of  Robert  Baxter  one  cannot  but  be 
stfuck  with  the  reverence  and  solemnity  and  close 
obedience  to  Scripture  that  characterizes  it;  where- 
as in  the  latter  these  characteristics  are  not  at  all 
conspicuous.  Mr.  Baxter  ascribes  all  his  errors  to 
a  want  of  close  attention  and  obedience  to  the  Word 
of  God.  In  the  present  day,  owing  perhaps  to  the 
widely-spread  scepticism,  the  Bible  is  more  lightly 
esteemed,  and  there  is  by  no  means  the  same 
reverence  or  distrust  of  one's  own  judgment  as 
there  was  fifty  years  ago.  The  result  is  that  the 
spirits  in  this  last  manifestation  do  not  seem  either 
so  subtle  or  so  reverent  as  in  the  old  days. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  both  cases  it  is 
the  same  class  of  people  who  are  deceived  ;  as  also 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  Earnest  godly  people, 
who  are  ever  eager  to  hear  and  to  know  about  the 
latest  sensation  in  religion,  and  who,  having 
embraced  the  higher  teaching,  of  which  I  shall 
have  more  to  say  in  another  chapter,  are  eager  to 
surrender  every  faculty  they  possess,  if  thereby  God 
may  be  glorified.     They  have  zeal  in  abundance ; 


120  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

all  they  lack  is  that  quality  that  is  ever  at  a  discount 
— discretion. 

Large  meetings  of  all  sorts,  and  especially  con- 
ventions, constitute  in  themselves  a  great  danger, 
however  soberly  they  may  be  conducted,  because 
such  danger  is  absolutely  inseparable  from  any 
gathering  of  a  large  number  of  people  whose 
minds  are  all  set  in  one  direction,  and  in  whom  the 
supernatural  element  is  prominent. 

I      There  is   much  hypnotic  power,  both  conscious 

I  and  unconscious,  in  large  crowds.  Slow,  monotonous 
singing  while  bowed  in  prayer,  with  constant 
repetition  greatly  favours  this.  But  let  me  here 
remark  that    religious  hypnosis  is    not    necessarily 

(an  evil;    but  a  power  that  may  be    used  by  God 

I  for  good.  It  is  not  of  itself  evil ;  and  the 
Devil  does  not  originate  it.  It  is  a  natural 
phenomenon,  and  its  value  consists  in  the  fact  that 
when  partially  or  wholly  in  this  condition  suggestions 

''of  all  sorts  have  great  and  permanent  power. 

If  these  suggestions  be  good  and  spiritual,  real  and 
lasting  good  is  done.  Much  more  good  indeed  than 
would  be  possible  if  there  were  only  a  handful  in  the 

j  tent  or  hall.  But,  alas,  all  extremes  of  excitement  and 
of  hypnosis  are  too  easily  regarded  as  sane  behaviour, 

I  and  are  accepted  as  of  God,  provided  they  occur  in 

'connection  with  religious  assemblies. 

Much  danger,  however,  lies  in  the  strain  on  the 
emotional  centres  in  religious  revivals ;  and  the  feel- 
ings thus  induced   too   often  leaves  no  permanent 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  121 

spiritual  result  behind.  The  emotions  are  wrought 
upon  by  constant  affirmation,  repetition,  and  the 
contagion  of  crowds. 

Positive  injury,  sometimes  of  a  permanent  kind, 
results  from  this  surrender  of  the  highest  brain 
centres  to  mere  emotion. 

One  should  be  temperate  in  all  things  ;  religion 
should  show  itself  in  a  clean  life,  and  in  a  pure 
heart.  Sterile  emotions  are  not  religion,  and  may 
be  as  intoxicating  as  alcohol  and  even  more 
dangerous,  because  they  are  even  more  insidious, 
and  screen  themselves  under  the  sacred  name  of 
Christ. 

There  should  ever  be  a  stern  rebuke  of  all  religious 
revivals,  missions,  or  conventions  that  deliberately 
seek  to  work  up  the  emotions,  with  painful  or  un- 
seemly additions. 

Much  of  the  curious  phenomenal  displays  in 
religious  revivals  are  really  the  result  of  hypnotic 
suggestions. 

These  emotional  crises  resulting  in  a  superficial 
"  conversion  "  or  ''consecration,"  and,  in  joining  the 
church,  too  often  end  in  utter  indifference  in  six  to 
nine  months  ;  some  subsequently  may  be  truly  con- 
verted, but  many  are  not. 

In  a  recent  mission  over  ninety  were  "  converted," 
Two-thirds  relapsed  in  six  weeks,  and  of  one-third 
received  into  church-fellowship,  more  than  half 
lapsed,  leaving  thus  one-eighth  only  standing  firm. 

In  the  ordinary  work  at  the  same  church  out  ot 


122  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

seventy  converted,  one  quarter  lapsed  in  six  weeks, 
three-quarters  joined  the  church,  and  four-fifths 
instead  of  one-eighth  stood  firm. 

Of  course  many  more  are  converted  in  revivals  in 
proportion  to  the  time  expended  ;  but  then  in  many 
cases  much  evil  is  done  by  the  excitement,  the 
extravagances,  and  above  all  by  the  subsequent 
[relapses.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  chronic 
I  religious  excitement  is  extremely  destructive  to 
the  real  higher  religious  life. 

I  must  now,  before  I  conclude,  refer  to  two 
points  that  I  promised  to  touch  upon.  The  one  is 
the  third  requisite  for  the  so-called  "  outpouring  "  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  stated  by  Evan  Roberts,  and  runs 
as  follows  : — "  Implicit  obedience  to  the  Spirit." 
The  other  is  the  second  of  the  Keswick  requisites,  as 
stated  by  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson,  "  The  surrender  of  the 
will  and  whole  being  to  Jesus  Christ." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  these  are  both  good  and 
true  requisites ;  but  neither  must  be  pressed  to 
mean  an  abandonment  of  one's  faculties,  under- 
standing, sound  mind,  judgment,  and  common 
sense.  These,  sanctified  by  God  and  in  subjection 
to  the  Spirit,  must  be  active  and  in  use  ;  and  it  is 
the  interpretation  of  "surrender"  and  "implicit 
obedience"  to  mean  the  divesting  of  oneself  of  every 
faculty,  that  has  caused  so  many  to  be  led  astray. 

Many  will  remember  the  blasphemous  arguments 
as  to  the  limitations  of  our  Lord's  mind  owing  to 
the  Kevocn,<^  in  Philippians  (emptying  Himself)  being 


SANITY    IN    REVIVALS  123 

pressed  unduly ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  Christians 
are  often  called  upon  to  empty  themselves  unduly  in 
this  forced  manner  without  the  slightest  warrant 
from  Scripture.  Much  of  the  high-flown  language  of 
the  present  day  in  connection  with  this  is  contrary  to 
the  Word  of  God,  which  never  asks  us  to  lay  aside 
our  sound  mind,  our  sobriety,  our  self-control,  our 
reasonableness,  and  our  judgment ;  but  to  exercise 
these  faculties  in  accordance  with  His  Word. 

It  is  the  conjunction  of  hypnotic  power  with  false 
doctrine  on  this  point  that  has  done  so  much  harm. 

And  the  distressing  part  is  that  it  is  those  who 
are  most  anxious  to  do  right  and  to  follow  and  obey 
God,  who,  neglecting  the  caution  of  the  Word,  get 
into  the  greatest  trouble,  while  the  careless  escape. 

I  would  earnestly  beg  any  who  read  these  pages, 
and  who  may  attend  large  conventions  and  other 
scenes  of  religious  power,  to  be  most  careful  to  see 
that  they  are  always  fully  conscious  of  what  they 
are  doing  ;  that  their  will  and  judgment  are  active  ; 
and  that  they  do  not  give  up  their  intelligence 
and  power  of  mind  to  another  human  being ;  but 
that  while  fully  surrendering  the  direction  of  their 
lives  and  wills,  and  opening  their  hearts  to  all  the 
holy  influences  around,  they  retain  their  sane  and 
quiet  minds  and  judgment.  Those  who  take  this 
precaution  are  not  liable  to  be  carried  away  by 
excitement  or  to  fall  into  any  of  Satan's  snares.  If 
one  feels  oneself  losing  self-control  and  becoming 
hypnotized  and  carried  away,  it  is  often  better  to 


124  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

leave  the  meeting,  or  if  one  stays,  resolutely  to 
refrain  from  any  action  while  in  such  condition. 

A  great  deal  of  misconception  indeed  exists  upon 
this  whole  question ;  and  being  "filled  with  the  Spirit" 
is  by  many  synonymous  with  bidding  farewell  to  all 
one's  natural  reasoning  powers.  Such  is  not  the 
case.  As  has  been  already  said  in  this  chapter,  our 
understandings  have  their  part  in  the  highest  con- 
ditions of  spiritual  life  ;  and  the  Christian,  however 
spiritual,  is  always  to  remain  the  sane  and  sober 
man,  with  his  faculties  so  far  from  being  abolished, 
dedicated  to  the  service  and  glory  of  God. 

This  watchful  care,  together  with,  when  needed, 
a  real  and  not  perfunctory  trying  of  the  spirits  as 
directed  in  i  John  iv.  i,  2,  will  safeguard  many  who 
would  otherwise  be  deceived. 


CHAPTER    VII 

Sanity  in  the  Higher  Life 

THERE  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  specially  in 
the  developments  of  Christian  life  that 
care  is  needed  and  that  difficulties  and 
dangers  abound.  As  I  have  said,  those 
completely  dead  to  the  spiritual  life  cannot  shew 
any  signs  of  insanity  in  Christian  things.  It  is 
equally  true  that  those  who  are  half  dead  are  seldom 
tempted  to  do  so  either.  It  is  the  wide-awake,  the 
enquiring,  the  advancing,  the  whole-hearted,  the 
true  witnesses  and  soldiers  of  the  Cross  who  are 
naturally  the  mark  for  Satan's  arrows,  or  for  his 
wiles.  As  long  as  we  sit  in  our  arm-chairs  we  can 
never  take  a  wrong  turning ;  it  is  when  we  are 
pushing  on  towards  our  Home  along  lonely  roads 
that  we  are  apt  to  go  astray,  if  we  neglect  to  study 
the  signposts  that  our  loving  Father  has  placed 
along  the  way. 

In  the  last  two  chapters  I  considered  some  of  the 
dangers  connected  with  revivals,  missions,  conven- 
tions, &c.  Now  we  will  consider  the  life  of  the 
individual  Christian  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of 

125 


126  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

his  career,  for  it  is  here,  as  I  have  said,  that  the 
danger  mostly  lies. 

I  will  first  give  a  few  particulars  as  to  ideals  and 
objects  in  the  normal  Christian  life.* 

From  childhood,  of  which  I  have  spoken  in 
Chap,  iv.,  to  maturity,  the  general  trend  of 
development  is  away  from  the  self-assertive  "  ego  " 
centre  and  instincts,  towards  God  and  man,  to 
spiritual  and  altruistic  activities. 

The  ideals  aimed  at  by  individual  Christians,  as 
ascertained  by  large  statistics,  are  very  different  to 
what  many  suppose,  and  are  somewhat  as  follows : — 

The  chief  ideal  is  that  of  doing  good  to  others. 
This  is  the  first  of  all,  and  is  given  by  more  than  one 
half  of  the  whole  number  as  the  chief  object  in  their 
Christian  life. 

To  perfect  oneself  as  a  Christian  is  the  ideal 
with  over  one  quarter. 

Complete  harmony  and  communion  with  God  is 
the  ideal  of  one  fifth. 

Those  who  have  altruistic  ideals  are  double  the 
numberof  those  whose  ideals  are  egoistic  and  relative 
to  self-growth  and  perfection. 

The  most  prominent  thoughts  occupying  the 
minds  of  Christians  are  as  follows: — 

Nearly  half  have  God  before   their   minds   most 

*It  must  again  be  noted  here  that  these  facts  relate  entirely 
to  the  ordinary  Christian  experience  of  the  average  Churchman 
or  Dissenter.  They  do  not  represent  ideals,  nor  results 
obtained  in  special  religious  circles. 


SANITY    IN    THE    HIGHER    LIFE         127 

of  all.  One  third  have  Christ ;  and  about  one  quarter 
the  thought  of  immortality ;  while  the  rest  state 
that  good  conduct  predominates  in  their  thoughts. 

Generally  speaking,  it  may  be  stated  that  the 
majority  of  Christians  over  forty  years  of  age  set  the 
thought  of  God  and  good  conduct  principally  before 
them. 

Dependence,  reverence,  and  praise  to  God  are 
ascertained  to  be  the  three  most  prominent  Christian 
feelings.  Faith,  happiness,  and  peace  are  quite 
secondary. 

Peace  and  holiness  is  the  Christian's  principal 
desire  between  twenty  and  fifty,  and  after  that  period 
the  interest  in  God  and  others  increases,  and  that  in 
self  distinctly  lessens. 

As  women  grow  up  in  Christian  life  religion  of  the 
intellect  as  a  rational  system  almost  disappears,  and 
their  Christianity  becomes  more  of  an  emotional 
type. 

A  stable,  spiritual  maturity  is  seldom  reached 
before  the  stable  physical  maturity  of  full  man  and 
womanhood.  Some  may  object  to  the  statistics 
given  here  and  in  Chapter  iv.  in  connection 
with  such  spiritual  matters.  They  are  certainly 
novel,  but  are  the  sober  and  true  statements  of  a 
large  number  of  Christian  men  and  women  who 
voluntarily  gave  their  religious  experience  in  answer 
to  a  number  of  carefully-arranged  questions  ;  and 
as  far  as  they  go  they  represent  facts,  which  are 
so    singularly    difficult   to    get    hold    of  as    to    the 


128  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Christian  life  ;  and  I  think  they  are  of  value,  in  that 
the  results  differ  widely  from  our  common  ideas  on 
this  subject.  I  do  not,  of  course,  attach  extreme 
importance  to  them;  but  the  light  they  throw  on 
conversion  and  Christian  experience  is  certainly  both 
interesting  and  novel,  and  to  some  extent  instructive. 

Now  it  is  when  we  pass  beyond  these  ordinary 
lines  of  Christian  development  that  danger  begins. 
The  danger  is  not  at  all  from  the  advance  by  natural 
growth  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ  and  a 
steady  development  on  the  Christian  side  of  a  well- 
balanced  ordinary  life  with  its  round  of  duties.  The 
danger  really  is  when  some  special  line  of  truth, 
correct  enough  in  itself,  is  pressed  unduly,  and  grows 
to  fill  the  whole  mental  horizon. 

And  this  danger  is  greatly  increased  if  this  special 
line  be  enforced  by  powerful  and  magnetic  teaching 
upon  it  in  large  and  excited  gatherings  ;  or  if  it  be 
taught  privately  to  small  selected  circles  of  followers 
by  some  favourite  teacher ;  in  either  case  great  care 
is  needed  lest  the  balance  of  proportion  be  lost,  and 
the  soul  carried  away. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  overwhelming  power 
and  blessedness  of  the  sense  of  the  presence  of  God. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  certain  gatherings,  and  there  can  also  be 
no  doubt  of  the  uplifting  power  of  certain  truths 
when  they  are  felt  and  realized  in  the  soul,  and 
these  of  course  all  do  good  to  natures  otherwise 
sound  and  sane. 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER   LIFE  129 

Indeed,  I  may  go  further  and  say  that  I  think 
the  more  of  spiritual  feehng  a  man  can  constantly 
experience  without  its  becoming  an  overmastering 
excitement,  overbalancing  the  soundness  of  one's 
judgment  and  unsteadying  any  of  one's  actions,  the 
better  for  the  development   of  the  spiritual  nature. 

Sanctification  is  the  identification  of  the  ego  with 
the  new  life  in  the  Spirit.  He  that  is  joined  to  the 
Lord  is  one  Spirit — the  Holy  Ghost  is  one  with  the 
believing  human  spirit. 

But  this  is  not  at  all  what  is  understood  by  sancti- 
fication in  advanced  schools. 

In  these  the  whole  nature  is  searched  for  any  taint 
of  evil,  and  all  is  to  be  cast  out  or  burnt  out  by 
"fire,"  and  the  whole  nature  "cleansed"  until 
nothing  remains  but  what  is  of  Divine  purity  in 
the  entire   man — spirit,  soul,  body. 

With  many  this  is  actually  pressed  so  far  that  the 
very  breath  and  sometimes  the  very  blood  of  the 
body  is  believed  to  be  changed,  and  to  become  of 
spiritual  origin  and  purity.* 

Here,  of  course,  we  leave  the  sound  mind  just  in 
proportion  as  we  leave  the  Word  of  God,  or  perhaps 
I  may  say  in  proportion  as  we  press  its  words  beyond 
their  evident  signification  ;  which  undue  straining  of 
the  Word  is  the  origin  of  most  heresies.  Few  heresies, 

*  The  Scripture  <'  who  shall  fashion  anew  the  body  of  oar 
humiliation"  (Phil.  iii.  21),  is  behaved  by  such  teachers  to 
mean  that  the  bodies  of  behevers  are  now  being  physically- 
changed,  so  that  in  the  very  words  of  one,  "  the  whole  physical 
make-up  becomes  instinct  with  Deity.' 


130  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

if  any,  were  originated  by  wicked  people ;  but  rather 
by  the  greatest  saints,  who  were  beguiled  into 
making  a  creed  out  of  a  single  doctrine,  and  pressing 
it  beyond  the  limits  of  any  sound  judgment. 

Of  course,  in  all  this  we  must  remember  the  point 
that  is  frequently  overlooked.  Each  Christian  is  too 
often  considered  to  be  uniform  in  character  with 
all  other  Christians,  and  to  have  no  personality 
beyond  his  Christianity ;  and  it  is  quite  forgotten  that 
each  one  carries  with  him  into  his  Christian  life  all 
his  original  characteristics.  St.  Paul,  the  Christian, 
could  never  be  confounded  with  St.  Peter,  the 
Christian ;  and  this  not  on  account  of  the  differences  of 
their  Christian  growth,  but  on  account  of  the  natural 
differences  of  temperament  bet\\een  the  two  men. 

So  we  get  some  men  naturally  well-balanced,  of 
sound  mind  and  judgment.  These  are  they  who  can 
most  safely  pass  on  to  the  greatest  spiritual  heights. 
Then  we  get  neurotic  men  and  women  and  people 
with  ill-health  and  unbalanced  minds,  all  of  whom 
should  understand  that  they  can  only  approach  the 
deep  things  of  God  with  great  humility  and  caution 
and  sobriety. 

It  is  vaguely  thought  b}^  those  persons  who  really 
do  not  think  at  all,  that  Christianity  ought  to  level 
all  natural  differences.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  does 
not  do  so,  and  it  is  because  this  truth  is  not  under- 
stood or  heeded,  that  people  get  worked  up  beyond 
themselves  in  conventions,  and  eventually  too  often 
fall  victims  to  nervous  disease. 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER   LIFE  131 

Of  course  I  know  that  a  false  idea  of  "  power  "  and 
self-surrender  is  abroad,  and  it  is  thought  that  only 
when  a  person  is  carried  away  and  has  evidently  lost 
all  will  and  judgment  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  really 
working.  It  is  not  so.  The  spirit  of  "power"  and 
"love"  is  inseparable  from  a  "sound  mind,"  and 
it  is  the  sanctioned  divorce  between  these  three  that 
has  led  to  so  much  trouble  and  sorrow. 

The  time  has  come  when  we  should  emphatically 
deny  that  the  culminating  or  pattern  type  of  religious 
experience  is  a  state  in  which  the  natural  self-control 
lapses.  Some  object  to  the  word  self-control  and 
would  substitute  "Christ"  or  "  God  "  control,  but 
this  is  only  a  quibble ;  for  it  is  the  self  that  is  con- 
trolled, the  power  being  the  will,  energized  no 
doubt,  and  directed  by  Divine  power  ;  and  not  as  so 
many  would  teach,  paralyzed  and  destroyed  by  the 
same  power. 

We  are  very  eager  to  grasp  the  promises  of  God  : 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  something  is  to  be 
added  to  the  faith  that  laj's  hold  of  them  ;  and  it  is 
not  excitement  and  surrender  of  one's  faculties,  but 
according  to  the  Apostle  (2  Pet.  i.  5)— "In  your 
faith  supply  virtue,  and  in  virtue  knowledge,  and  in 
knowledge  temperance "  or  self  control.  There 
are  other  qualities,  but  add  these  three  ingredients 
alone  to  the  faith  that  grasps  the  promise,  and  we 
shall  see  no  more  unseemly  excesses. 

"  What  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  ? " 
asks  the  same  Apostle  (2  Pet.  iii.  11)  "in  all  holy 


132  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

living  and  godliness  ?  "  in  view  of  the  coming  judg- 
ment. I  fear  St.  Peter  would  hardly  recognize  as 
features  of  the  higher  Christian  life  much  that  passes 
as  such  in  the  present  day,  so  lacking  is  it  in  sobriety 
and  self-control. 

I  may  go  further,  and  say  I  am  fully  persuaded  that 
it  is  only  possible  to  reach  the  highest  heights  if  one 
has  Christian  sanity.  Witness  indeed  the  Apostle 
Paul,  who,  though  he  calls  himself  mad  before  his 
conversion,  and  afterwards  was  accounted  mad  by 
Festus,  was  an  eminently  well-balanced  and  highly 
educated  man.  Look  at  the  heights  to  which  he 
soared  ;  study  the  profound  star-depths  to  which 
his  spiritual  vision  extends  in  Ephesians,  mark  the 
way  in  which  he  strains  the  Greek  tongue  to  the 
utmost  to  try  and  make  it  express  his  sense  of  the 
love  and  wisdom  of  God ;  and  j^et  we  all  feel  and 
know  he  never  surrendered  his  self-control.  Indeed, 
so  far  from  this,  he  declared  that  if  he  did,  he  himself 
would  be  no  longer  fit  for  such  high  service,  but 
would  as  to  his  work  become  a  castaway. 

One  finds  also  amongst  Christians  great  spiritual 
attainments  combined  with  perfect  sobriety. 

Let  me  give  an  instance  of  deep  spiritual  thought 
in  one  eminently  sane.  I  allude  to  Dr.  Butler,  Master 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  I  quote  from  the 
Cambridge  Theological  Essays,  p.  585. 

"  The  person  of  Jesus  takes  captive  one  soul  after 
another  with  no  distinction  of  rank  or  race  or  sex. 
It  is  not  the  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  sacred 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER   LIFE  133 

books,  it  is  not  the  wisdom  or  the  poetry,  or  the 
literary  beauty  of  the  words  of  these  books — it  is  not 
these  save  in  a  very  inferior  degree,  which  draw  the 
heart  and  overcome  the  prejudice  or  the  indifference 
of  man  or  woman  or  child.  It  is  the  Person — the 
Life — Past,  Present  and  to  come — of  one  Character 
m  all  history — the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Jesus  of 
Bethlehem,  of  Nazareth,  of  Capernaum,  of  Nain,  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  of  Bethany,  of  Jerusalem,  of  Geth- 
semane,  of  Calvary,  of  Emmaus,  of  the  early  morn- 
ing by  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  of  the  Holy  Mount,  of  the 
Ascension — it  is  this  Person  even  more  than  His 
sacred  teaching  who  has  been  the  ideal  and  the  hope 
of  every  contrite  heart ;  it  is  the  Person,  whom 
having  not  seen,  the  poorest,  the  meanest,  the 
guiltiest  amongst  us  cannot  choose  but  'love.'  " 

"  And  now  may  we  not  add  to  this  lively  sense,  as 
apart  of  it,  and  an  essential  part  of  it,  that  adoration, 
that  joyous  pride  of  prostrate  worship  which  may 
almost  be  called  the  keynote  of  the  Apocalypse  ? 
The  whole  universe  (Rev.  v.)  prostrate  at  the  feet  of 
Him  through  whom  all  things  were  made,  even  of 
the  Lamb,  who  by  His  blood  brought  back  .  .  . 
to  His  Father  those  that  had  wandered  from  the 
fold.  Is  it  not  the  same  great  vision  that  haunts  and 
soothes  and  humbles  and  uplifts  the  minds  and  the 
hearts  of  all  true  Christians  now  ?  " 

Consider  also  the  great  sanity  of  men  foremost  in 
the  Church — of  Liddon,  of  Lightfoot,  of  Westcott,  to 
whom  I  may  specially  add  Dr.  Moule,  present  Bishop 


t34  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

of  Durham  ;  all  conspicuous  for  profundity  of  insight 
into  Divine  mysteries,  as  well  as  for  a  childlike  faith, 
and  a  character  best  described  by  the  beautiful  word 
i'TrteUeLa  (sweet  reasonableness  or  gentleness). 

Turning  to  the  Mission  world,  consider  the  per- 
sonal characters  of  Hudson  Taylor,  of  Paton,  of 
Moffat,  of  Carey,  of  Hannington,  of  Moody,  of 
Torrey,  of  Pierson. 

Look  at  the  composition  of  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Keswick  platform  "  for  the  last  twenty  years  as 
representing  the  higher  spiritual  life  ;  and  observe 
how  carefully,  while  endeavouring  to  teach  the 
highest  truths,  and  give  full  liberty  to  the  action  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  every  effort  is  made  to  subdue 
excitement  and  to  do  away  with  any  mere  emotion, 
and  to  promote  reasonableness  and  self-control. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  when  we  approach 
the  mystics  that  we  find  the  balance  more  difficult 
to  hold. 

Still,  mysticism  was  the  very  salt  of  the  mediaeval 
church  that  kept  it  from  going  to  corruption. 
Henry  Suso,  Tauler,  Jacob  Boehme,  Pascal, 
Fenelon,  and  other  "friends  of  God"  all  belonged 
to    this  school. 

One  of  the  mystics  who  perhaps  most  departed 
from  the  Christian  sanity  of  which  I  speak  was 
Madam  Guyon.  She  scourged  herself  with  iron 
points,  and  tore  herself  with  brambles,  thorns,  and 
nettles,  which  she  kept  on  her.  She  says,  "  If  I 
walked  I  placed  stones  in  my  shoes.     It  was,  O  my 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER   LIFE  135 

God,  what  you  inspired  me  from  the  first  to  do." 
She  adored  a  paper  image  of  our  Lord,  who  held  in 
his  hands  little  crosses  for  distribution.  She  carried 
a  piece  of  the  "  true  "  cross  on  her  neck.  She  tried 
to  annihilate  self,  and  become  absorbed  in  God. 
This  point  is  important,  as  it  is  now  again  after  350 
years  much  to  the  front,  not  only  in  orthodox 
Christian  teaching,  but  in  Christian  Science,  and 
elsewhere.  It  closely  resembles  the  Quietism  of 
the  heathen. 

That  which  shone  forth  with  such  an  extra- 
ordinar}^  lustre  in  Madam  Guyon's  life  was  the 
same  light  of  which  Eastern  sages  had  caught  a 
fleeting  glimpse.  "  It  is  ancient  Buddhism,"  says 
Miss  A.  R.  Habershon,  "  that  teaches  concerning 
the  true  Nirvana,  that  only  when  the  self-centre 
is  lost,  the  Divine  Spirit  can  take  its  place." 
A  Book  on  the  Quietism  of  India,  written  by  a 
French  traveller,  Bernier,  in  Madam  Guyon's  time 
(1688),  gives  the  following  description,  which  is 
wonderfully  applicable  to  Madam  Guyon's  teaching  : 

"  Among  the  different  fakirs  or  pagan  religieiix 
there  are  those  who  are  called  Jogees  (Yogi's) — 
that  is  to  say,  saints,  ilhimines,  perfect,  or  perfectly 
united  to  the  Sovereign  Being — to  the  First  and 
Sovereign  Principle  of  all  things.  They  are  people 
who  appear  to  have  totally  renounced  the  world, 
and  who  ordinarily  withdraw  into  some  secluded 
garden,  like  hermits  with  a  few  disciples,  who, 
modest  and  submissive,  are  only  too  happy  to  listen 


136  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

to  them  and  serve  them.  If  food  is  brought  them 
they  receive  it  ;  if  they  are  forgotten,  it  is  said  they 
do  without  it,  and  that  they  Hve  by  the  grace  of 
heaven  in  fasts  and  perpetual  austerities,  and  are 
sunk  in  contemplation  ;  I  say  sunk  {abiines),  for  they 
enter  so  deeply  therein  that  it  is  said  they  pass 
whole  hours  ravished  and  in  ecstacy.  Their 
external  senses  appear  wholly  inert,  and  they 
maintain  that  they  see  the  Sovereign  Being  as  a 
living  and  indescribable  Light,  with  a  joy  and 
satisfaction  inexpressible,  which  is  followed  by  a 
contempt  of  and  total  detachment  from  the  world." 

A  great  deal  that  is  popular  to-day  is  founded 
upon  Madam  Guyon's  teaching  as  well  as  on  her 
practice,  and  particularly  with  regard  to  self- 
crucifixion. 

She  says  :  "  We  never  lose  ourselves  in  God  save 
by  total  death,  the  mortification  of  our  own 
intellect,  and  our  *  own  '  will,  commencing  by  the 
loss  of  our  '  own  '  activities.  This  is  never  effected 
without  profound  prayer,  no  more  than  the  death  of 
the  senses  will  ever  be  entire  without  profound 
concentration  joined  to  mortification." 

But  the  Bible  never  teaches  that  we  are  to  crucify 
ourselves,  nor  does  God  call  for  the  death  of  the 
senses.  The  Epistles  teach  us  that  believers  have 
BEEN  crucified  with  Christ* ;  it  is  past,  an  accom- 

*  Observe  Gal.  ii.  20  reads  :  "I  !iave  been  crucified  with 
{(TvaTcwpoco)  Christ";  Gal.  vi.  14.:  "The  woj?ld /;a//i  iee;t  cruci- 
fled  unto  me"  ;  Romans  vi.  6  :  "Our  old  man  was  (or  has 
^een)  crucified  with  hin»." 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER    LIFE  137 

plished  fact,  and  we  are  to  reckon  ourselves  dead. 
Experience  must  come  from  fact,  and  not  fact  from 
experience. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  if  we  were  able  to 
crucify  ourselves,  we  should  be  alone  on  the  cross ; 
our  Lord  is  not  there.  He  was  taken  down  from 
the  cross,  buried,  and  on  the  third  day  rose  again. 

In  union  with  Him,  we  rose  too,  and  are  called 
to  live  in  "  newness  of  life "  :  we  are  not  hanging 
upon  the  cross,  and  we  are  never   told  to  try  and  i 
kill  ourselves.     Our  senses,  our  powers,  our  will,  our  j 
every  faculty,  are  to  be  consecrated,  not  killed. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  when  we  cease  to 
"  reckon  "  we  have  to  "  mortify."  If  we  do  not  reckon 
ourselves  to  have  died  with  Christ,  sin  will  reign, 
active  sins  will  be  the  result ;  and  these  are  the  mem- 
bers which  we  are  told  in  Col.  ii.  5  must  be  mortified. 

And  yet  from  the  lips  of  honoured  teachers  of 
this  higher  life  we  get  such  exhortations  as  to  "  Take 
our  position  as  crucified,"  "Accept  crucifixion  in 
Christ,"  "  Escape  to  a  place  in  Christ  on  the  cross," 
&c.,  all  of  which,  though  well  meant,  puts,  as  an 
optional  Christian  experience,  that  which  the  Word 
of  God  gives  us  as  a  fundamental  fact,  true  of  every 
child  of  God,  and  not  a  matter  of  attainment  at  all. 

Tauler,  of  Strasbourg,  gives  us  a  conversation  with 
a  beggar  which  I  may  repeat  here  as  illustrative  of 
true  Christian  mysticism  : — 

Tatder.     I  give  you  good  day. 

Beggar,     I  never  have  a  bad  day. 


138  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

T.     God  give  you  a  happy  life. 

B.     I  thank  God  I  am  never  unhappy. 

T.     Never  unhappy  !     What  do  you  mean  ? 

B.  Well,  when  it  is  fine,  I  thank  God ;  when  it 
rains,  I  thank  God ;  when  I  have  plenty,  I  thank 
God ;  when  I  am  hungry,  I  thank  God.  Since 
God's  will  is  my  will,  and  whatsoever  pleases  Him 
pleases  me,  why  should  I  say  I  am  unhappy  when  I 
am  not  ? 

T.  But  what  if  God  were  to  cast  you  into  hell  ? 
How  then  ? 

B.  And  if  He  did,  I  should  have  to  embrace 
Him  with  the  arm  of  my  faith  and  the  arm  of  my 
love  ;  and  I  would  infinitely  rather  be  with  Him  there 
than  anywhere  else  without  Him. 

T.     But  who  are  you  ? 

B.     I  am  a  king. 

T.     A  king  !     Where  is  your  kingdom  ? 

B.  In  my  own  heart ;  for  Thine  is  the  Kingdom 
and  the  power  and  the  glory,  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 

This  "practice  of  the  presence  of  God  "was  Jeremy 
Taylor's  third  instrument  for  holy  living. 

Another  who  understood  it  and  from  whom  we 
learn  much  was  Nicholas  Herman,  known  as 
Brother  Lawrence,  a  peasant  monk  in  Paris,  who 
lived  at  the  same  time  as  Madam  Guyon,  but  from 
whom  he  differed  so  widely  in  practice.  He  says : 
"  There  is  not  in  the  world  a  kind  of  life  more  sweet 
and  delightful  than  that  of  a  continual  conversation 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER   LIFE  139 

with  God.  It  is  not  necessary  for  being  with  God 
to  be  always  at  church  ;  we  may  make  an  oratory  in 
our  hearts,  wherein  to  retire  from  time  to  time  to 
converse  with  Him  in  meekness,  humility,  and  love. 
When  we  come  to  love  God  we  shall  think  of  Him 
often,  for  our  hearts  will  be  with  our  treasure." 

We  are  told  he  was  always  "  pleasing  himself"  in 
every  condition,  by  doing  little  things  for  the  love  of 
God.  He  was  more  united  to  God  in  his  outward 
employment  than  when  he  left  them  for  devotion  in 
retirement.  He  began  to  live  as  if  there  were  none 
but  God  and  he  in  the  world.  He  walked  before  God 
simply  in  faith,  with  humility  and  with  love,  and  he 
applied  himself  diligently  to  do  nothing  and  to  think 
nothing  which  might  displease  Him.  He  had  a 
habitual  silent  and  secret  conversation  of  the  soul 
with  God,  which  caused  in  him  so  great  joys  and 
raptures  that  he  was  forced  to  use  means  to  moderate 
them.  A  week  before  his  death  he  said  "  I  hope 
from  God's  mercy  the  favour  to  see  Him  within  a  few 
days." 

Here  then  is  the  utmost  possible  exaltation  of 
soul  and  communion  with  God  combined  with 
Christian  sanity  ;  for  he  was  a  very  hard-working 
servant — a  remarkably  good  cook  and  a  good  judge 
of  wine,  which  he  always  had  to  buy  for  the  community. 

Sanity,  I  submit,  is  compatible  with  the  deepest 
spiritual  exercises  of  which  the  soul  is  capable,  pro- 
vided they  be  natural  and  not  forced  nor  contrary  to 
the  teaching  of  the  word  of  God. 


t4o  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

In  the  Holy  Communion  the  soul  is  sometimes 
so  carried  away  as  to  be  quite  oblivious  of  things 
around.  H.  Ward  Beecher  writes  :  "  There  are 
times  when  it  is  not  I  that  am  talking.  When  I 
am  caught  up  and  carried  away  so  that  I  know  not 
whether  I  am  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body," 
which  corresponds  closely  with  the  experience  of 
Evan  Roberts  and  many  others. 

There  are  few  mj'stics  but  have  been  at  times  quite 
unconscious  of  being  in  the  body  ;  but  even  this 
exaltation  does  not  necessarily  imply  undue  excite- 
ment or  extravagance  of  any  sort. 

The  presence  of  God  gives  the  very  deepest  joy 
that  the  human  heart  can  ever  know.  It  gives  the 
highest  spiritual  exaltation  and  boundless  happi- 
ness, and  it  is  in  this  connection  that  the  Apostle  is 
obliged  to  speak  of  being  "  besids  himself."  It 
produces  the  most  perfect  and  indescribable  con- 
tentment, trust,  and  peace.  The  soul  feels  abso- 
lutely impregnable. 

But  it  has  also  other  sides  in  the  experiences  that 
flow  from  it. 

It  produces  perfect  calm  and  quietness.  He  that 
believes  does  not  "make  haste."  There  is  great 
sobriety  and  the  absence  of  all  excitement. 

The  language  of  the  man  who  walks  with  God  is 
wonderfully  restrained  and  rational,  and  above  all 
perfectly  natural. 

There  is  very  little  talk  about  God,  but  there  is 
profound  and  manifest  reverence.     Above  all  there 


SANITY   IN   THE   HIGHER   LIFE.  14I 

is  a  deep  and  strong  sanity  and  self-control  and 
sobriety,  and  soundness,  and  gentleness.  In  fact  all 
the  traits  in  which  God  delights.  He  Himself  pro- 
duces, without  effort  on  their  part,  in  His  children 
by  the  fact  of  His  enjoyed  presence  in  the  soul. 

The  truest  sanity  is  in  Christians ;  for  they  alone 
can  survey  the  whole  of  life  past,  present,  and  future, 
and  not  be  afraid ;  but  are  filled  with  the  peace  and 
with  the  serene  intelligence  that  contact  with  the 
Divine  gives  to  the  soul. 

They  fulfil  Browning's  lines, 

"  Trust  God,  see  all,  be  not  afraid." 

Moreover  their  lives  are  sane  and  full  of  good 
works.  To  be  under  the  guiding  eye  of  God  con- 
sciously and  constantly,  to  see  Him  alwaj/s  before 
us,  is  to  have  Him  even  at  our  right  hand,  so  that 
we  cannot  be  moved. 

I  might  of  course  say  very  much  more,  but  I 
think  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that  the  greatest 
enjoyment  of  the  highest  privileges  and  communion 
are  all  compatible  with  sanity.  Indeed  to  suppose 
otherwise  were  to  make  God  the  author  of  confusion. 
It  is  not  so. 

The  man  whose  whole  being  is  in  harmony  with 
itself  and  with  God  is  the  man  who  is  furthest 
removed  from  folly  of  mind  or  action. 

But  we  must  remember  there  are  counterfeits  and 
imitations  everywhere,  and  that  the  devil  always  lurks 
beneath  the  shadow  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Wiles  of  the  Devil 

STUDENTS  of  Scripture  are  well  aware  that 
Satan  is  termed  the  God  of  this  world.  They 
know  (2Thessalonians  and  the  Revelation)  that 
he  will  3^et  become  the  Antichrist,  indwelling  in  some 
human  being.  It  only  remains  for  him  to  usurp  the 
place  of  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity — the  Holy 
Ghost.  And  this  appears  to  be  his  special  role  at  the 
present  day,  and  in  Irvingism  and  similar  delusions. 
The  Person  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  have  been 
specially  prominent  in  Christian  doctrine  of  late 
years,  and  this  is  undoubtedly  Satan's  point  of 
attack,  in  simuktting  the  energy  and  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

In  Spiritualism,  which  is  not  all  charlatanism, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  evil  spirits  have  posed 
as  those  of  departed  friends,  but  now  we  get  them 
speaking  with  the  voice  and  authority  of  the  Spirit 
of  God. 

Not  only  so,  but  in  any  mystic  cult,  in  every 
thought-healing  centre,  in  Christian  Science  and  in 
all  the  new  theology  teaching,  even  in  the  cult  of 

112 


THE  WILES   OF  THE   DEVIL  143 

Isis  in  London,  and  other  strange  faiths,  the  Bible 
is  everywhere  freely  quoted  and  referred  to  and 
apparently  honoured.  The  one  thing  that  is  not 
done  is  to  make  confession  of  "Jesus  Christ 
come  in  the  flesh,"  which  St.  John  points  out  is 
the  test  no  evil  spirit  can  stand;  in  short  the 
revelation  of  our  Divine  Saviour  in  human  form  in 
His  birth,  death  and  resurrection.  The  operations  of 
evil  spirits  are  very  various,  and  well  adapted  to 
different  minds  and  faiths  ;  but  they  have  one  point 
of  union,  denial  of  the  Person  and  work  of  the  Son 
of  God  in  some  form  or  other.* 

There  seems  reason  to  believe  that  quite  apart 
from  a  human  liability  to  sin,  and  proneness  to  err, 
we  get  in  religion,  special  temptations  amongst 
Christians  to  sins,  which  are  one  and  all  utterly  alien 
to  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  It  is  quite  remarkable 
under  the  name  of  religion  what  enmity,  strife, 
jealousy,  wrath,  factions,  divisions,  heresies,  envy- 
ings,  lying,  malice,  hypocrisy,  and  hatred  abound 
(Gal.  v.  19). 

One  cannot  but  think  that  the  promotion  of  these 
evils  is  the  work  of  the  enemy ;  as  the  sowing  of 
the  tares  among  the  wheat.  There  seem  to  be 
specially  devised  snares  set  for  Christians  at  every 
stage  of  their  life. 

*It  is  true  that  in  the  Irvingite  movement  there  was  a  mere 
verbal  assent  to  the  phrase  "Jesus  Christ  come  in  the  flesh," 
but  further  examination  showed  that  doctrines  denying  this  were 
taught. 


144  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

The  dead  level  easy-going  Christian  is  already 
overcome  by  sloth  and  inertia,  and  needs  no 
further  attention.  He  will  never  give  much  trouble 
to  the  enemy. 

The  Christian  of  "open  and  inquiring  mind"  is 
agog  for  new  vagaries  and  ideas  of  every  sort,  and 
greedily  swallow^s  the  latest  new  thing  in  theology, 
which  is  carefully  prepared  for  his  consumption. 

The  "doctrinal  "  Christian  is  the  prey  of  various 
heresies,  mostly  consisting  in  truths  distorted  in 
different  ways,  and  used  as  centres  for  dispute  and 
division. 

The  emotional  and  "higher-life"  Christian  is 
however  the  one  for  whom  most  snares  are  set, 
and  it  is  utterly  futile  for  him  to  dream  of  being 
"  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil,"  unless 
he  closely  obeys  the  Apostle's  detailed  direction  for 
the  conflict  as  given  in  Eph.  vi.  10-18.  The  whole 
armour  of  God,  every  piece  of  it,  is  needed ;  and 
above  all  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  which  is  the  Word 
of  God,  and  the  attitude  of  prayer. 

I  think  the  most  careless  one  who  reads  this 
passage  must  be  struck  by  the  tremendous  nature 
of  a  conflict  that  requires  such  elaborate  armour. 

The  Christian's  danger  of  course  begins  with  his 
progress,  and  his  attempts  to  make  good  his  footing 
on  high  and  holy  truths,  and  in  short  to  fit  himself 
entirely  for  the  service  of  God. 

I  have  already  indicated  some  of  the  subtle 
dangers  that  beset  his  path.     There  is   that  con- 


THE   WILES  OF  THE   DEVIL  145 

nected  with  "  full  surrender  "  when  pressed,  as  was 
the  Kevocrt<;  (emptying)  of  our  Lord,  far  beyond  its 
Scriptural  meaning. 

There  is  the  misuse  of  crucifixion,  as  an  active 
voluntary  process  instead  of  an  accomplished  fact. 

There  are  many  errors  connected  with  the  power 
and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Special  caution  is  needed  with  regard  to  all 
miraculous,  or  partly  miraculous  gifts  such  as  the 
gift  of  tongues,  prophesying,  healing  the  sick,  &c.,  all 
these  being  easily  and  freely  counterfeited  by  Satan. 

Respecting  the  gift  of  tongues  I  should  like  to  say 
a  word  here.  It  has  been  pointed  out  to  me  that  it 
is  at  least  very  doubtful  whether  the  miraculous 
gifts  of  apostolic  da3's  were  intended  to  be  con- 
tinued. There  was  a  very  special  reason  for  pro- 
phesying and  speaking  by  the  Spirit  when  the 
churches  had  no  Bible  and  Christians  were  veritably 
like  children.  Now  we  have  the  full  Bible  and  the 
need  is  not  the  same  (See  i  Cor.  xiii.  11). 

All  miracles  have  been  for  special  seasons  only. 
The  miracles  prepared  for  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
from  Egypt  were  not  needed  in  the  wilderness. 
Those  in  the  wilderness  ceased  when  the  Jordan 
was  crossed.  It  would  not  have  been  according  to 
the  mind  of  God  had  they  prayed  ever  so  long  and 
earnestly  for  the  pillar  of  cloud  to  lead  the  tribes  to 
their  various  inheritances.  It  had  served  its  purpose 
and  ceased  to  exist,  and  if  we  examine  into  the  gifts 
of  tongues  we  may  find  something  very  similar. 

K 


146  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

It  is  remarkable  in  the  first  place  that  there  is  no 
mention  of  them  in  Ephesians,  Philippians,Colossians, 
Timothy,  Titus,  Epistles  of  St.  James,  St.  Peter,  and 
St.  John,  all  written  subsequently  to  Corinthians.  We 
must,  in  looking  at  these  questions,  have  some  idea  of 
the  various  dispensations  and  what  belonged  to  them  ; 
and  I  think  a  close  consideration  of  the  tongues  will 
show  they  were  specially  employed  when  God  finally 
gave  up  His  ancient  people  and  turned  to  the 
Gentiles. 

St.  Paul  tells  us  that  the  gift  of  tongues  was  "  for 
a  sign  ...  to  them  that  believe  not,"  and  his 
quotation  from  Isaiah  xxviii.  ii,  12,  clearly  shows 
that  these  were  not  unbelieving  Gentiles,  but  the 
unbelieving  Jewish  nation.  It  is  very  significant 
that  it  is  at  Corinth  we  hear  so  much  about 
them.  If  we  turn  to  the  history  of  the  founding  of 
this  church  (Acts  xviii.)  we  find  that  it  corresponds 
with  one  of  the  great  crises  in  the  book  of  the  Acts 
when  the  Jews  once  more  rejected  the  Gospel. 
"They  opposed  themselves  and  blasphemed"  and 
Paul  therefore  said,  "  Henceforth  I  will  go  unto  the 
Gentiles."  He  left  the  synagogue  and  went  next 
door  to  the  house  which  joined  "  hard  to  the 
synagogue,"  and  there,  "  Many  of  the  Corinthians 
hearing,  believed." 

It  was  in  this  church  thus  formed  that  the  "gifts  " 
were  so  abundantly  manifested,  and  for  a  special 
reason.  The  Jews  in  the  adjoining  synagogue  must 
have  heard  of  them,  and  had  they  understood  Isaiah 


THE   WILES   OF  THE   DEVIL  147 

xxvili.  would  have  known  that  these  tongues  were  a 
sign  from  God  that  he  had  taken  up  the  Gentiles. 

No  such  state  of  things  is  found  to-day.  But  to 
pass  on. 

There  is  a  special  danger  connected  with  erroneous 
teaching  concerning  the  second  coming  of  Christ. 

In  every  outburst  of  evil  teaching  the  Second 
Advent  has  been  prominent,  and  if  Satan  is  to 
come  forth  eventually  as  Antichrist,  one  can  under- 
stand how  he  could  misuse  the  special  truths  to 
serve  his  own  purposes.  There  is  also  great  danger 
attaching  to  the  pressing  of  Christian  perfection 
beyond  scriptural  limits. 

And  connected  with  this.  Is  there  not  great 
danger  in  a  teaching  which  makes  those  who  embrace 
these  doctrines  into  a  special  class  with  special 
privileges,  such  as  being  those  who  alone  will  be 
taken  away  at  our  Lord's  coming  ? 

Such  a  doctrine  is  peculiarly  subtle  in  its  results,  as 
those  who  are  left  behind  at  this  time  can  still  regard 
themselves  as  Christians  and  as  such  form  a  body  of 
worshippers  of  one  who  will  present  himself  to  them 
as  Christ,  but  who  in  reality  is  Antichrist. 

The  "  rightly  dividing  "  the  word  of  truth  by 
means  of  a  knowledge  of  the  various  dispensations 
is  in  itself  another  safeguard  against  error. 

With  regard  to  meetings  of  all  sorts,  special 
dangers  may  be  pointed  out,  only  it  is  my  earnest 
wish  while  forewarning  the  unstable  not  to  deter  any 
from  seeking  every  blessing  God  has  to  give  them. 


T48  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

No  one,  therefore,  must  imagine  for  a  moment  that  I 
do  not  fully  appreciate  the  value  of  religious  meet- 
ings, because  I  point  out  certain  dangers  which  may 
lie  in  them  for  some,  if  watchfulness  and  care  be 
not  exercised. 

In  the  first  place  we  must  remember  that  in  all 
great  crowds  assembled  with  a  special  object, 
particularly  if  it  be  a  religious  one,  there  is  a  strong 
hypnotic  power  absolutely  inseparable  from  them, 
and  not  dependent  on  the  speakers.  It  is  just  as 
common  as  the  exhaustion  of  the  air.  Quiet,  mono- 
tonous singing  greatly  intensifies  this  hypnotic 
influence,  and  especially  with  the  head  bowed  and 
the  eyes  shut — so  does  prolonged  prayer  and  so  do 
impassioned  speakers — and  yet  none  of  them  nor  all  of 
them  together  are  in  themselves  bad  in  any  way  ; 
and  as  I  have  said,  God  can  use  the  power  of  crowds 
to  His  glory  just  as  He  can  use  the  quietness  of  the 
closet.  It  is  only  that  one  has  to  be  on  one's  guard 
against  mere  ephemeral  emotion.  I  may  give  an 
illustration  of  this. 

I  remember  well  in  one  of  Moody's  great  meetings 
in  the  East  of  London  I  was  sitting  behind  a  remark- 
able-looking man  in  the  after-meeting,  and  I 
entered  into  conversation  with  him — while  the  choir 
on  the  platform  was  crooning  in  low  plaintive  tones 
the  words  "Come  to  Jesus,  come  to  Jesus."  After 
a  while  he  said,  "  I  would  rather  you  did  not  say 
more  to  me  now,  for  I  shall  come  to  no  decision  at 
the  present  moment.     I  feel  I  am  carried  away  just 


THE   WILES   OF   THE   DEVIL  149 

now,  and  not  master  of  myself,  and  should  not  like 
to  decide  on  such  an  important  matter  in  my 
present  condition,"  Two  days  afterwards  he  called 
to  see  me  at  the  London  Hospital,  and  told  me  his 
whole  life  had  been  changed  and  that  he  was  now  an 
earnest  Christian.  But,  he  added,  it  was  no  words  of 
yours  that  did  it.  It  was  the  endless  repetition  of 
that  choir  ;  I  could  resist  the  call  a  dozen  times,  but 
I  could  not  stand  it  for  a  hundred  !  I  found  he  was 
the  head  of  an  eminent  firm  of  City  lawyers,  and  a 
very  clever  man. 

Now  this  shows  two  things,  his  recognition  of  his 
emotional  state  and  his  desire  not  to  build  on  that ; 
and  at  the  same  time  God's  use  of  the  undoubted 
hypnotic  power  of  the  low  monotonous  repetition  of 
the  choir. 

All  manifestations  of  supernatural  power  are  of 
course  very  upsetting  to  the  mental  balance,  and 
here  we  must  once  more  repeat  that  wherever  God 
begins  any  great  work  it  is  simultaneously  counter- 
feited or  corrupted  by  evil  agencies.  In  the  teaching 
at  such  assemblies  there  are  certain  points  that  may 
awaken  caution  in  the  hearer;  such  as  earnest  and 
persistent  calling  and  praying  for  gifts  and  miracles,  a 
neglecting  of  the  foundations  of  truth,  and  as  I  have 
said,  special  teachings  respecting  the  Second  Advent, 
all  of  which  have  been  much  employed  by  the  enemy* 

Secret   teaching    and    initiation,    despising    and 

*  This  caution  must  not  lead  us  to  regard  Second  Advent 
teaching,  which  is  so  greatly  needed,  as  of  danger  in  itself. 


ISO  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

ignoring  other  Christians  of  different  sects,  the 
formation  of  special  coteries  and  circles,  working  up 
of  excitement  and  forcing  of  testimony,  abnormal 
physical  manifestations,  incoherences  and  mysticism 
are  all  practices  that  should  be  avoided. 

In  the  present  day  it  must  not  for  a  moment  be 
imagined  that  if  teachers  are  men  of  pure  and 
righteous  lives,  exhibiting  the  fruits  detailed  in 
Galatiansv.  and  well  instructed  in  the  Bible,  that  it 
is  of  itself  sufficient  proof  they  are  of  God. 

It  is  now  the  day  of  2  Cor.  xi.  Satan  is  now  an 
"  angel  of  light,"  and  little  else  :  his  ministers  are 
"  ministers  of  righteousness,"  and  stern  denouncers 
of  immorality. 

It  is  useless  hunting  for  Satan  only  in  the  vicious 
purlieus  of  the  City,  when  he  may  occupy  the 
fashionable  pulpits  and  preach  sound  ethics. 

I  may  add  a  few  further  cautions  even  at  the  risk 
of  some  repetition. 

Never  surrender  consciousness,  a  sound  mind,  a 
good  understanding,  self-control,  a  reasonable  gentle 
disposition,  and  general  sanity.  God  uses  and 
sanctifies  these  gifts  of  His  for  His  praise  and  glory  ; 
He  does  not  abolish  them. 

There  must  be  sound  common  sense  in  full 
activity,  combined  with  humility,  reverence,  and 
submission  to  God's  will. 

To  be  emptied  of  self,  including  almost  an 
annihilation  of  all  reasoning  and  intellectual  facul- 
ties was,  as  I    have   said  before,  much  pressed   in 


THE  WILES   OF  THE   DEVIL  151 

a  recent  heresy  as  true  of  Christ  in  PhiL  ii.  7,  but 
is  neither  true  of  the  Master,  nor  should  it  ever 
be   true  of  the  servant. 

Next  I  would  suggest,  with  regard  to  any 
magnetic  speaker  whom  one  is  following,  a 
very  careful  examination  of  his  teaching  respecting 
the  Person  and  work  of  Christ. 

I  was  lunching  with  an  eminent  religious  teacher 
once,  who  boasted  to  me  of  his  complete  emancipa- 
tion from  the  old  and  effete  doctrine  of  man's  lost 
condition,  the  need  of  a  Saviour,  the  atonement  by 
blood,  etc.,  and  at  the  same  time  said  he  was  agree- 
ably surprised  to  see  what  an  immense  circulation  his 
books  had  in  orthodox  Christian  houses  ;  the  readers 
apparently  never  noticed  that  none  of  the  truths  on 
which  their  hopes  were  built  were  ever  found  in  his 
books. 

Another  point  to  bear  in  mind  when  miraculous 
gifts  are  pressed  as  essential,  is  that  the  passage  in 
the  Bible  on  which  they  are  chiefly  founded  is  of 
doubtful  origin*  (Mark  xvi.  17,  18).  It  is  not, 
as  most  are  aware,  found  in  the  great  manuscripts 
at  all,  and  first  occurs  about  the  fifth  century.  It 
is,  therefore,  possibly  of  no  apostolic  authority. 

Another  point  to  notice  is  that  our  Lord's  miracles 
of  healing  were  not  performed  with  a  view  to 
banishing  all  diseases,  but  were  for  signs  ;  and  more- 
over, were  not  wrought  on  converts  in  answer  to  the 
prayers  of  faith,  but  on  sinners. 

*  The  verses  are  not  found  in  Sinaitic  or  Vatican  MSS. 


152  CHRISTIAN    SANITV 

The  reason  the  existence  of  the  gifts  (prophesying, 
tongues,  etc.)  in  the  very  early  Church,  I  repeat, 
appears  to  be  because  there  was  then  no  Bible  ;  for 
even  the  Old  Testament  was  exceedingly  rare  and 
hard  to  get,  and  of  course  the  New  did  not  exist. 
Thus  they  were  as  children,  and  had  to  be  instructed 
by  the  direct  voice  of  the  Spirit. 

But  now  we  have  the  full  and  completed  Word  of 
God,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  gifts  are  no  longer 
needed  {see  i  Cor.  xiii.) 

Not  only  so,  but  there  is  a  great  danger  of  founding 
doctrines,  or  lines  of  conduct  on  the  "  voice  of  the 
Spirit"  instead  of  on  the  written  word  of  God, 
which  is  able  to  furnish  the  "  man  of  God  "  with  all 
he  needs.  Such  "  voices  "  have  been  the  source  of 
countless  errors  and  grievous  sins  and  immoralities 
wherever  they  have  occurred. 

It  is,  I  repeat,  well  to  note  that  there  is  not  a 
word  about  tongues  in  the  other  churches  :  nor  in 
the  instruction  to  Timothy,  Titus,  or  by  St.  Peter ; 
and  the  omission  is  most  significant. 

With  regard  to  healing,  that,  too,  seemed  to 
have  passed  away,  at  any  rate  as  a  practice, 
when  Israel  was  finally  rejected ;  for  we  find 
Trophimus  and  Epaphroditus  left  sick,  and 
Timothy  counselled  what  to  take  for  his  dyspepsia. 
This  may  seem  trivial,  but  is  all  of  weighty 
meaning. 

I  may  close  with  a  word  or  two  of  general 
advice. 


THE  WILES   OF  THE   DEVIL  153 

Never  rashly  pronounce  any  unusual  manifesta- 
tions to  be  of  God  or  the  Devil.  Wait  and  see  ; 
most  probably  they  are  mere  natural  excitement. 

If  convinced  of  a  supernatural  element,  prove  the 
spirit,  carefully  and  thoroughly,  as  directed  in  i  John 
iv.  I,  2. 

Be  very  careful  in  your  decision,  and  never  act  on 
it  until  some  time  has  elapsed. 

Remember  how  many  greater  and  wiser  than  our- 
selves have  been  deceived. 

At  the  same  time  do  not  denounce  what  you  do 
not  understand,  and  speak  evil  of  no  man.  Re- 
member that  to  attribute  the  genuine  works  of  the 
Spirit  to  Satanic  agency  is  akin  to  the  "  unpardon- 
able sin  "  of  the  Gospels.* 

Great  and  prayerful  study  of  the  Word  of  God  and 
close  adherence  to  it  is,  I  am  convinced,  the  best 
safeguard  when  dealing  with  rare  spiritual 
phenomena. 

Don't  follow  even  the  best  man  into  what  you 
judge  as  doubtful  doctrines  or  ways.  Be  fully  per- 
suaded of  all  you  do  in  your  own  mind,  and  ever 
pray  earnestly  for  Divine  guidance. 


*But  there  is  a  great  difference  I  The  "unpardonable  sin 
was  the  maUcions  attributing  the  Spirit's  work  to  the  Devil, 
through  hatred  of  heart,  and  resisting  the  truth  by  unconverted 
men.  No  Christian  can  commit  this  sin;  and  an  error  in 
judgment  is  after  all  a  sin  of  ignorance  ;  and  the  desire  and 
purpose  is  good  ;  whereas  in  this  case  it  was  the  evil  desire 
that  prompted  the  blasphemous  utterance. 


CHAPTER    IX 
From  a  Medical  Standpoint 

SO  far  I  have  used  the  words  sanity  and 
insanity  in  the  loosest  possible  way,  and  one 
professionally  quite  unworthy  of  a  medical 
man.  But  I  did  so  purposely,  desiring  to 
write  as  a  layman  to  laymen,  or  rather  I  would  say 
as  a  Christian  to  Christians.  In  this  last  chapter, 
however,  I  wish  to  treat  my  subject  rather  from  the 
standpoint  that  comes  before  one  week  by  week  in  a 
class  of  people  that  prove  the  most  perplexing  of  all 
my  patients.  I  am  sorry  to  have  to  talk  about  my 
own  work  at  all,  but  it  is  inevitable.  I  must  draw 
upon  my  own  experience  if  I  am  to  make  this 
chapter  of  any  use,  and  I  earnestly  hope  that  its 
careful  perusal  and  consideration  may  be  helpful  in 
keeping  some  who  are  drifting  towards  these 
insidious  dangers  of  which  it  treats,  out  of  the 
doctor's  hands. 

It  is  quite  lamentable  to  see  how  many  Christians 
suffer  from  nervous  disorders,  and  while  I  hold  no 
belief  that  Christianity  is  in  any  sense  a  specific 
against  disease  or  a  guarantee  against  accidents,  I 
do  believe  that  there  are  a  large  number  who  never 

151 


FROM   A  MEDICAL  STANDPOINT        155 

need  have  been  ill  at  all,  had  their  Christianity  been 
of  the  right  sort. 

I  should  like  to  be  understood  in  what  I  say :  I  see 
numbers  of  nervous  invalids  who  have  become  so  by 
chafing  against  adverse  fate,  uncongenial  ties, 
unkindness,  and  misunderstanding  and  neglect, 
want  of  love  and  sympathy ;  or  perhaps  it  may 
have  been  active  persecution,  misrepresentation,  and 
slander,  loss  of  money  or  friends,  want  of  occupation 
or  of  an  object  or  ideal  in  life,  or  from  monotonous 
work  or  drudgery. 

"And  surely,"  you  say,  "this  is  enough  to 
destroy  the  nerve  force  of  any  man  or  woman." 
Yes,  it  is,  but  not  of  any  Christian,  if  he  knows  how 
to  meet  it  aright.  A  careful  consideration  of  Psalms 
xxxi.  19,  20  ;  xci.  i ;  and  Isaiah  xl.  28-31,  and  Phil.  iv. 
6,  7,  will  reveal  that  the  Christian  has  a  practical  and 
available  refuge  from  chafing  and  irritation,  from 
wear  and  tear  of  spirit  and  nerve  exhaustion,  that 
makes  for  health,  if  he  only  knows  how  to  use  it. 

Indeed,  the  picture  presented  to  us  in  Phil.  iv.  is 
that  of  a  heart  actually  garrisoned  by  God,  in  such  a 
way  that  it  cannot  be  reached  save  through  Him ;  and 
in  passing  through  His  grace  and  love  the  sharpest 
venom  loses  its  poison,  and  the  most  malignant  dart 
falls  harmless.  It  was  thus  our  Lord  was  kept  in 
perfect  peace  of  spirit  through  all  the  wearing  unbelief 
and  misunderstanding  of  the  little  home  in  Nazareth, 
and  against  the  vile  slanders  (see  Matt,  xi.)  of  later 
years.     And  so  w^e  may  be  kept  if  we  only  will. 


iS6  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

Nosmall  number,  indeed,  of  my  patients  are  afflicted 
mentally  (like  the  poor  'bus  horses  physically)  with 
"  sore  necks  "  from  trying  to  draw  the  heavy  load  of 
life  with  collars  that  do  not  fit,  being  lined  with 
self,  and  pride,  and  ambition,  Christ  in  vain  cries 
to  some  of  us  :  "  Take  My  yoke  upon  you  and  learn 
of  Me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart."  He  offers 
us  His  own  yoke  or  collar  with  which  He  drew  the 
load  of  life,  and  it  can  never  chafe  the  neck,  because 
it    is    padded    with    meekness     and    lowliness    of 

)  heart.  No  small  amount  of  nerve  exhaustion 
comes  from  disappointed  pride  and  unsatisfied 
ambition. 

Another  religious  trouble  that  comes  before  me 
is  that  of  obsession  or  the  "  idee  fixe.'"     This  is  when 

I  one  idea  obtains  command  of  the  whole  mental 
horizon  to  such  an  extent  as  to  render  the  mind 
unbalanced,  and  the  conduct  unreasonable.  Pushed 
to  an  extreme,  this  becomes  monomania.  It  is 
connected  with  a  fixed  mental  background ;  that  is 
to  say,  an  impossibility  of  looking  at  anything,  how- 
ever different  the  objects,  save  from  one  fixed  stand- 
point. When  this  background  is  absolutely  fixed, 
the  patient  is  no  longer  sane. 

Obsessed  people  are  impervious  to  argument, 
however  reasonable,  and  are  entrenched  in  their 
own  ideas.  There  is  an  entire  absence  in  them  of 
that  eiTLeUeia,  or  sweet  reasonableness,  which  I  have 
adduced  as  an  important  sign  of  Christian  sanity. 
This  of  itself  does  not  amoint  to  disease,  unless  it 


FROM   A   MEDICAL  STANDPOINT         157 

renders  the  person   unreasonable  in  daily  life  and 
conduct. 

The  most  obstinate  and  worst  cases  are  those  con- 
nected with  religion,  and  the  greatest  care  should 
be  taken  never  to  let  one  single  aspect  of  Divine 
truth,  or  even  religious  truth  alone,  entirely  dominate 
the  soul.  God  should  do  so,  but  then  His  Spirit 
leads  into  all  truth,  which  is  many-sided  and  as  wide 
as  its  Author. 

I  have  said  much  as  to  the  dangers  of  puberty.  I 
may  add  a  word  here  regarding  the  perils  of  the 
climacteric,  and  how  much  want  of  balance,  sudden 
obsessions,  extravagances  of  all  sorts  are  found 
amongst  women  between  the  ages  of  forty  and  fifty. 

Those  of  high  spiritual  attainments  may  consider 
these  remarks  as  on  a  low  plane,  and  possibly  as 
"  wanting  in  faith,"  but  they  cannot  be  disregarded 
with  impunity,  for  they  are  the  laws  of  God  for  the 
body. 

But  I  do  not  write  this  chapter  to  speak  of  the 
general  relations  of  Christianity  and  health,  fascina- 
ting though  the  subject  be,  but  only  of  those  whose 
nerves  or  mental  balance  is  upset  with  regard  to 
religious  matters.  I  will  point  out  some  of  the 
principal  causes,  nearly  all  of  which  are  preventable. 
First,  as  to  the  body.  What  practices  are  likely  to 
lead  to  a  loss  of  balance  of  nerve  or  mind  ? 

Want  of  sleep  is  one.  Many  evangelists  I  know 
boast  of  their  power  to  set  all  laws  of  nature  aside  in 
their  own  case,  and  for  a  time  they   defy  them,  and 


158  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

apparently  nothing  disastrous  happens ;  but  sooner 
or  later  Nature  exacts  a  most  terrible  retribution, 
and  the  labourer  is  either  permanently  laid  aside 
with  illness  or  broken  down  for  a  long  period.  In 
such  cases,  indeed,  where  there  was  a  latent  weak- 
ness or  predisposition,  reason  itself  may  be  lost. 

"What!"  you  ask,  "in  the  service  of  God?" 
Yes,  in  serving  God — with  zeal,  but  not  accord- 
ing to  knowledge.  "  He  knoweth  our  frame,  He 
remerabereth  that  we  are  dust " ;  it  is  we  who 
forget  it ! 

Now,  have  we  any  warrant  to  believe  that 
if  we  persistently  set  the  laws  of  Nature  at 
defiance,  God  will  miraculously  interpose  and  guard 
us  against  our  folly  ?  I  do  not  think  so.  I  quite 
grant  that  there  are  exceptional  times  when  God 
may  call  His  servants  to  do  without  their  natural 
rest,  or  to  deny  themselves  in  some  other  way,  but 
these  are  very  special  occasions,  and  one  should 
carefully  see  that,  after  the  strain  is  over,  extra  rest 
is  taken  to  make  good  the  waste.  In  short,  a 
sound  mind  and  sober  common  sense  should  ever 
accompany  the  most  entire  devotion  to  God.  But 
there  are  times  when  one  may,  with  deliberate 
purpose,  lay  down  one's  very  life  in  God's  service  if 
called  upon  to  do  so,  as  my  brother  did  in  China. 
But  this  is  far  different  from  the  reckless  and  care- 
less and  sinful  neglect  of  the  natural  needs  of  the 
body  so  often  seen  in  excited  revivals  and  prolonged 
spiritual  exercises. 


FROM   A   MEDICAL  STANDPOINT         159 

Neglect  of  food  is  another  of  the  practices  Hkely 
to  injure  health  and  nerves.  We  all  know  the 
important  position  fasting  occupies,  both  in  the 
Bible  and  in  the  church,  and  do  not  for  a  moment 
say  the  practice  should  be  aboHshed  ;  for,  conducted 
with  due  moderation,  it  is  of  great  service  at  special 
seasons  and  on  suitable  occasions.  But  what  I 
wish  to  point  out  is  the  serious  injury  likely  to  arise 
from  the  habitual  neglect  to  take  sufficient 
nourishing  food,  for  I  know  well  that  sound  thoughts 
cannot  proceed  from  an  unsound  and  ill-nourished 
brain,  and  that  if  food  is  withheld  too  long  there  is 
not  only  faintness,  but  the  thoughts  become 
disordered,  and  delusions  arise.  A.gain,  ill-health 
comes  from  neglect  of  physical  exercise,  and  still 
more  from  want  of  rest  of  that  part  of  the  brain 
which  is  so  actively  employed  in  religious  services 
and  exercises. 

He  is  indeed  a  wise  man  who  knows  the  true 
value  of  re-creation,  and  who,  in  his  intervals  of 
saving  souls  and  edifying  believers,  follows  actively 
some  healthy  hobby  that  really  has  power  to  occupy 
his  mind,  and  that  suits  his  tastes  and  age. 

The  best  varieties,  of  course,  are  those  that  keep 
him  in  the  open  air,  give  him  moderate  but 
sufficient  and  really  active  exercise,  and  contain 
enough  interest  for  him  to  enable  the  overworked 
parts  of  his  brain  to  lie  fallow,  while  the  unused 
parts  are  busily  employed. 

The  great  point  is  that  the  recreation  should  be 


i6o  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

as  different  as  possible  in  its  nature  and  surround- 
ings from  the  ordinary  work  of  his  life. 

Another  great  danger  that  leads  to  loss  of  balance 
is  working  at  high  pressure  when  convalescing  from 
any  weakening  disease,  and  above  all  from  influenza. 
This  deadly  brain  poison  requires  proper  rest,  as  it 
affects  the  nerve  centres  almost  more  than  any  other. 

Another  cause  of  trouble  is  running  the  mind 
always  in  the  same  groove,  and  ignoring  all  the  other 
faculties  and  gifts  with  which  God  may  have 
endowed  us  for  the  sake  of  that  one.  Specialists 
always  tend  to  be  one-sided,  and  are  often  ill- 
balanced  ;  and  not  the  less  so  when  the  specialism 
is  religion. 

I  know  the  study  of  Christianity  is  so  lovely,  so 
absorbing,  so  vast,  as  to  demand  all  one's  powers  ; 
and  it  requires  a  strong  sense  of  what  is  right  to 
oneself,  and  what  is,  after  all,  to  the  greater  glory 
of  God,  resolutely  to  turn  away  from  it,  and  to 
heartily  take  up  something  that  develops  another  of 
our  faculties.  Let  me  here  say  a  word  to  parents 
to  be  most  careful  as  to  this.  However  well  the 
fully-grown  brain  and  matured  intellect  can  stand 
the  strain  of  perpetually  playing  on  one  string  of  the 
mental  harp,  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  youth  it  is 
extremely  dangerous.  Adolescence  is  a  most 
unstable  time  of  life,  when  there  are  most  nervous 
sufferers,  and  when  the  balance  may  be  lost  in  every 
possible  way. 

It  is  also  the  time,  as  I  have  shown,  when  three- 


FROM   A   MEDICAL  STANDPOINT         i6i 

fourths  of  all  conversions  occur,  and  when  religious 
exercises  abound.  It  is  likewise  the  period  when 
the  brain  itself  is  most  rapidly  developing  and  the 
whole  organism  is  changing  from  that  of  the  boy 
and  girl  into  the  man  and  woman.  No  time  in  life 
requires  such  careful  handling  as  I  have  pointed  out 
in  Chapter  iv.,  and  all  I  need  do  now  is  to  remind 
parents  to  see  that  their  children  get  a  good  all 
round  development  for  spirit,  soul,  and  body. 

With  regard  to  actual  disease,  I  find  nearly  all 
who  have  lost  their  Christian  sanity  are  alike  in 
two  respects.  They  are  all  "publicans"  in  their 
ready  confessions  of  their  sins,  real  or  imaginary, 
and  all  have  morbid  consciences.  One  finds 
absolutely  no  Pharisees  among  them.  There  is 
generally  some  "  unpardonable  sin  "  weighing  upon 
them,  and  this  is  what  they  describe  as  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost.  Not  one  in  a  hundred  of 
them,  however,  has  any  idea  of  the  real  character  of 
that  awful  sin.  All  peace  of  mind  is  of  course  lost, 
the  person  has  deceived  himself  and  others,  and 
ever  and  always  will  tell  you  endless  stories  of  his 
wickedness  in  thought,  mind,  and  deed.  Such 
sufferers  never  seem  to  overrate  themselves,  or 
exhibit  any  of  the  signs  of  spiritual  pride. 

So  far,  you  say,  so  good.  Perhaps  so,  but  in  prac- 
tice I  find  it  easier  on  the  whole  to  pull  a  man  off  a 
pedestal  than  to  lift  him  out  of  his  morbid  depths. 

In  short,  my  experience  is,  that  whenever  Christian 
sanity  is  lost  in  the  medical  sense,  and  the  person  is 

L 


i62  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

plunged  into  religious  depression  or  melancholia, 
argument  and  expostulation  are  absolutely  useless, 
and  to  restore  such  a  patient  from  three  months 
to  a  year  requires  to  be  spent  preferably  under  the 
care  of  Christian  people  who  can  sympathise, 
though  they  never  pander  to  the  ailment.  The  time 
should  be  filled  with  action,  and  enforced  work 
of  an  engrossing  kind,  with  an  utter  absence 
of  all  Christian  teaching  and  exercises  as  far  as 
practicable. 

I  have  seen  cures  in  the  most  hopeless  and  deplor- 
able cases  (where  indeed  the  sufferer  had  to  be 
protected  against  himself),  and  therefore  I  despair  of 
none.  At  the  same  time  I  must  utter  the  most 
solemn  warning  possible,  to  those  who  in  God's 
mercy  have  possession  of  their  faculties  not  to  dare 
to  trifle  with  them,  to  avoid  all  dangerous  excesses  of 
spiritual  excitement,  to  care  conscientiously  for  their 
bodies  as  to  food,  and  rest,  and  exercise,  and  change 
of  thought  and  work. 

Religion  and  love  touch  the  two  deepest  emotional 
centres  in  our  being,  and  are  the  two  most  potent 
exciting  causes  of  loss  of  mental  balance,  except  the 
direct  nerve  poison  of  influenza.  Of  course  heredity 
is  a  predisposing  cause  that  must  ever  be  kept  in 
sight,  but  it  need  never  give  trouble  if  the  life  be 
ordered  wisely. 

It  is  so  easy  to  lose  the  balance  and  so  hard  to 
regain  it.  Indeed,  few  are  ever  the  same  again,  and 
when  I  so  often  meet  with  devoted  servants  of  God 


FROM   A   MEDICAL   STANDPOINT         163 

wrecked  in  mind  or  body,  I  wonder  whether,  after  all 
this  can  be  the  will  of  God  concerning  them.  I  feel 
sure  many  of  us  would  last  much  longer  if  we  went 
a  little  slower. 

Turning  now  to  the  morbid  conscience,  let  me 
utter  a  most  earnest  warning  against  the  manufacture 
of  an  artificial  one. 

The  Pharisees  were  past  masters  of  this  art,  and  a 
pious  Jew  felt  condemned  if  he  ate  an  egg  on  a 
Sunday,  as  it  was  probably  laid  on  the  Sabbath, 
causing  the  hen  thereby  to  work  on  that  day. 

Hardly  less  ridiculous  are  the  countless  artificial 
laws  and  restraints  whereby  we  seek  to  regulate  one 
another's  lives  as  Christians,  and  do  infinite  mischief 
thereby.  I  must  not  dwell  on  these  human  laws, 
but  in  certain  circles  the  consequences  are  terrible, 
and  I  am  not  overstating  the  case  when  I  say 
deliberately  that  I  know  more  than  one  person  now 
an  inmate  of  an  asylum  from  the  direct  result  of  the 
artificial  over-pressure  of  a  sensitive  conscience. 

I  find  far  more  evils  arise  from  too  much  conscience 
than  from  too  little,  at  any  rate  from  a  medical  point 
of  view  ;  and  I  think  if  more  were  done  in  explaining 
the  law  of  Christian  love  and  liberty  and  the  "  guid- 
ance with  the  eye,"  instead  of  manufacturing  laws  of 
bondage,  and  bits  and  bridles,  a  great  deal  of  sorrow 
would  be  prevented. 

The  narrow  Puritan  school,  necessary  as  it  may 
have  been  at  the  time  of  its  institution  as  a  godly 
protest  against  the  outrageous  license  of  the  day,  is 


i64  CHRISTIAN    SANITY 

after  all  no  true  type  of  Christianity.  Love,  not 
asceticism,  is  the  spirit  of  health  and  sanity,  and  the 
essence  of  Christianity. 

Want  of  religious  balance,  especially  in  women,  is 
often  due  to  simple  ill-health,  and  not  to  any  error  in 
Christian  training ;  and  there  are  many  cases  of 
religious  breakdown  not  due  to  any  religious  cause, 
but  to  a  weakening  of  the  nerve  force  from  ordinary 
illness.  It  is  at  a  time  like  this  that  the  value  of  a 
quiet,  sane,  Christian  character  comes  in,  so  that  the 
balance  is  preserved  in  the  time  of  weakness  ;  the 
religion  in  this  case  being  a  help  and  not  a  disturbing 
element. 

Amongst  medical  men  religious  melancholia  is 
looked  upon  as  a  most  hopeless  variety  of  the  disease, 
and  in  my  experience  I  have  known  religious 
depression  continue  for  years  in  the  most  earnest 
Christians,  long  after  every  contributory  cause  of 
nerve  weakness,  etc.,  had  been  put  right.  Of  course 
this  is  only  natural  ;  because,  as  I  have  said,  it  is 
religion  that  touches  the  most  profound  depths  of 
our  being. 

But,  you  say,  why  does  not  God  intervene  and 
save  these.  His  children,  from  such  a  fate  ?  I  cannot 
tell  you  why ;  all  I  know  is  that  He  who  is  Infinite 
Love  and  Infinite  Justice,  and  who  is  our  Heavenly 
Father,  does  notf  for  some  all  wise  and  sufficient 
reason,  always  protect  His  children  against  their 
own  foolishness. 

Knowing   this,   it    behoves    us    to    see   that    we 


FROM   A   MEDICAL   STANDPOINT         165 

use  the  reason  God  has  given  us,  and  carefully 
avoid  trifling  with,  or  overtaxing  those  powers 
with  which  He  has  endowed  us.  I  feel  quite 
sure  that  none  of  my  readers  who  study  and 
follow  the  Divine  directions  given,  as  detailed  in 
Chapter  ii.,  will  ever  be  led,  under  any  plea,  into 
excesses  that  may  cause  them  to  lose  their  balance, 
and  become  victims  of  religious  depression. 


What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter  ? 

Simply  that  the  path  of  true  glory  to  God,  of 
safety  for  ourselves,  and  of  deliverance  from  the 
snare  of  the  devil,  lies  in  ordering  our  life  by  the 
Word  of  God  in  every  detail  ;  and  that  neglect  of 
this  may  lead  us  into  prolonged  suffering  and  sorrow, 
from  which  we  must  not  expect  to  be  saved  by  Divine 
interposition. 


DATE  DUE 

-tfrP-t**^ 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

